AG Spotlight: Lindsey Bergman

I'm the Moon Girl's first Girl of the Year, and also THE first Girl of the Year, the one and only Lindsey Bergman.

FULL NAME:  Lindsey Bergman 

NICKNAME:  I have a Hebrew name like Denise does.  I chose the name "Esther," because of Queen Esther.  Without her there might be no Jews.  Queen Esther was brave, faithful, and obedient, like I try hard to be.  Sometimes the "obedient" part is tough!

BIRTHDAY:  December 2nd (Moon made one up)

HOMETOWN:  Chicago, Illinois

HEAD MOLD:  Classic

HAIR COLOR:  Dark auburn

EYE COLOR:  Light blue

OTHER DISTINGUISHING FEATURES:  Freckles

FAVORITE COLOR:  Green, blue, red, I'm not picky!

THINGS I LIKE:  Cheering people up, helping people out, dogs (wiener dogs are my favorite), riding my scooter, baseball (the Cubs are my favorite team), teasing Denise about baseball, studying the Torah, sunshine, playing the trumpet

THINGS I DISLIKE:  Bullies, sadness, animal cruelty, getting into trouble, road rash

MY CHOICE OF MUSIC:  Millennial-era boy bands (N'SYNC is my favorite) and the Electric Light Orchestra.  "Mr. Blue Sky" is my favorite song.

PET:  Mr. Tiny, a dachshund.

BEST FRIENDS:  Molly, because she's a talker, and Denise, because we're both Jewish.  I also like to tease Denise about baseball because she's...dare I say it, a CARDINALS FAN.  I also like wheelin' it up with Z and Joss, but riding a skateboard is hard!  Also, I don't have my scooter yet.

SOMEONE I'D RATHER AVOID:  I actually like Samantha a lot, but she's so hard to cheer up!  Joss is also sometimes hard to talk to, but that's usually my fault.  I apparently talk too fast for her to read my lips!  I'm working on that.

HOW I CAME HERE:  Another eBay find!  The Moon Girl says she was shocked that she got me for as reasonable a price as she did.

ABOUT ME:  Moon admits that she initially had a tricky time bonding with me since I'm so loose!  Not loose as in slutty, mind you, but...you get the idea!  If I'm posed at all I usually have to sit.

Good thing I love that avocado chair!  I have to share it with Joss since she loves avocados, but that's no big deal.  The Moon Girl did try restringing me last fall, but she couldn't get it done because she didn't have the right tools.  Rearranging my stuffing did help me stand a little better, though.

It didn't hurt a bit, being unstuffed!  As soon as the Moon Girl took my head off I was out like a light, and even that just tickled when she fumbled with my strings.  Whatever, I won't let temporary mobility issues dampen my outlook on life.  I love to talk, joke, and laugh, and I love making my friends laugh when they're sad.  I've learned to control my impulses for the most part, though I do still like to do goofy stuff like set people up on dates.  Justin probably wouldn't have had the courage to talk to Samantha if I hadn't talked him into it!  Of course it helped that Justin already had a thing for Samantha, and that both were single; I didn't make the mistake of setting a single person with an engaged one again!  Oh brother, that last time was a complete fiasco!  Anyway, I didn't try to force Justin and Samantha together.  I just encouraged them to talk to each other and be honest about their feelings, and it worked!  As for me, myself, I'm not looking for a boyfriend, which is just as well since my only option would be Kyle.  He and I are not each other's type.

Boy crazy, am I?  Well...not really.  Right now I'm currently studying for my bat mitzvah ceremony, so I don't have time for boys...or anything, really.  Denise is more traditional and isn't bothering with a bat mitzvah, but she's more than willing to help me practice, and I'm grateful to her for that.  Moon is trying to help too, but she says finding a Torah in our size is hard.  So far all she's found for us are Passover seder books...oh, and the cool little plates.

Oh well, at least we've got SOMETHING, and I love Passover!  We've got some odds and ends for Hanukkah too, so it's all good.  The Moon Girl is a Gentile and doesn't know everything she needs to know (she TOLD me to write that, I promise I'm not hatin'), but I think she does just fine.  She doesn't push us to celebrate Christmas like some Gentiles have done in the past.  I will admit that I think Christmas trees are beautiful, though.

In other news, it's hot as all get-out in the Moon House, as the air conditioner went out AGAIN.  The Moon Girl says she's gonna get a new one during the off-season, but she said that LAST YEAR and didn't do it.  One of Moon's tornado authors describes the summers in Chicago as opposed to downstate Illinois summers:

"Summers in Chicago are hot, but summers in Murphysboro are infernal."

I'm further south now than Murphysboro, even, and we're having a heat wave to boot.  It was over a hundred degrees all week last week, and Moon's AC is on the blink.  But this week we've thankfully got some relief, in the form of glorious rain!  Samantha is the rain fan of us all, but in this case we're all pretty stoked.

Love,
Lindsey Bergman

AG Spotlight: Denise Goldberg

I was the Moon Girl's first custom job, but not the last!

FULL NAME:  Denise Samantha Goldberg

NICKNAME:  My Hebrew name is "Hannah."  I chose that name because Hannah was patient and faithful, just like I want to be.

WHERE I GOT MY NAME:  One of Moon Girl's second cousins, and Samantha, and a common Jewish surname.

BIRTHDAY:  September 23rd

CUSTOMIZED FROM:  A Pleasant Company-era Samantha.  I don't remember who cut my hair or why, but it came out pretty darn good!

HOMETOWN:  Greensburg, Kansas

HEAD MOLD:  Classic

HAIR COLOR:  Dark brown

EYE COLOR:  Dark brown

FAVORITE COLOR:  Green

THINGS I LIKE:  Classic rock, dancing ballet (sometimes to old rock tunes, LOL), peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, pineapple anything, fruit in general, frogs, ladybugs, baseball (the Cardinals and the Royals are my favorite teams), hockey (the Blues are my favorite team), springtime...except for the tornadoes that come with it!  Unlike Kyle and Silver Bird, I was actually there when Greensburg got hit, and it was terrifying.  

THINGS I DISLIKE:  Grabby, overenthusiastic kids, getting up early on weekends, injuring myself in ballet class (thankfully that doesn't happen often), jerks, tornadoes and thunderstorms in general, being impatient

MY CHOICE OF MUSIC:  The Who, KISS, and Deep Purple are my big three.  Roger Daltrey is a hottie!  Luciana and I like to tease each other about our respective blondes (she likes Robert Plant), though we both see eye-to-eye on David Lee Roth.

BEST FRIENDS:  Sadie and Xenia.  Sadie and I were on the welcoming committee when Xenia arrived, and we just sort of clicked.  I also like Samantha since I was a Samantha herself once (I don't remember much about that), and since I'm around Samantha a lot I subsequently know and like her boyfriend Justin pretty well.  I worship with Lindsey and I count her as another close friend, though we do sometimes tease each other about baseball (Lindsey is a Cubs fan, blah).

SOMEONE I'D RATHER AVOID:  Molly can be a little clumsy when she dances.  I like her, but I don't always like to dance with her.  Doremi is a jerk to her brother a lot, so I do prefer to keep my distance from her.  I don't know what poor Justin ever did to her. 

HOW I CAME HERE:  Moon Girl's mother found me abandoned at the elementary school where she works and brought me home.

ABOUT ME:  I'm originally from Kansas and loved it there, but I love living in Missouri too!  This area of Missouri is almost as flat as the countryside around Greensburg, but not quite.  As Courtney and Julie (and probably Moon herself) have established, it's impossible for a seismic area to be completely flat.  It's certainly not flat enough to see a tornado for miles around, like it is in Kansas...not that that mattered much when Greensburg got hit.  Shudder...I don't want to talk about it, nor do I want to think about "the Big One," the huge earthquake that the Moon Girl predicts will eventually happen here.

*Side note from the Moon Girl:  Hey, it happened once.  It can happen again.

Yeah, but I hope not while we're all alive!  Oh right, dolls can outlive humans by a good margin if our luck is right.  Sucks to be me, I guess.  Oh well, we could be wiped out by a meteor strike any minute too and you don't think about it until it happens.  Aaaanyway, I'm like Silver Bird in that I'm pretty fancy-free, though like her I do like to wear dresses sometimes.  This is my new dress; it's got...flowered fruits on it.

Moon says she saw that in the grab bag she got and knew it would be for me.  I do love my fruit!  My dearest wish is to try durian.  LOL, I hear it stinks, but I also hear it's delicious if eaten at the right time.  If they're unripe I hear they taste like rancid scrambled eggs, and Coyote Peterson apparently agrees.  Moon says that durian gets an unfair reputation among westerners as disgusting because people eat the unripe stuff.

Lemme see...earthquakes, Kansas, durians...I used to be an Oriental clothing enthusiast, but I had to stop that since SOMEONE griped about appropriation.  It wasn't anyone in Casa Del Luna, y'all; Ana Ming says she'd happily share if our measurements were the same, and Z says I fill out her hanbok better than she does.  Poor Z, she has the slimmer permapanties body...but then again I have the chubby Pleasant Company body!  But anyway, appropriation be danged, I'm not giving up my sombrero!  I only wear this during parties anyway, y'know, like how some folks end up with a lampshade on their head at the end of a party.  Or I wear it when I'm in a celebratory mood, like I was a few years ago when the Blues won the Stanley Cup.

Win or lose, the Blues are my team!  But oh, was I happy when they won that Stanley Cup.  They'd never won one.

So...hockey and fruit...I'm pretty boring, actually!  I don't chase tornadoes or walk on fence rails like Silver Bird.  I'm often most content with going to the playground to play.  Yesterday I even got Rita Cheryl to play with me.  

Rita Cheryl is pretty serious, and getting her to loosen up isn't easy, but I got the job done. 

Rita Cheryl told me that next time we should bring our own dolls and show them the playground.  She just got Gabriela, and I have Luciana. 

I live with a full-sized Luciana, and I never stopped to ask her if it's okay that I have a doll like her.  We belong to different friend groups, but I respect her intellect and her interest in space and the Earth sciences.  I guess I need to talk to her...LATER!!!

Hmmm...maybe I'm more like Silver Bird than I realized.  Oh well, nothing wrong with that!

Love,
Denise Goldberg

AG Spotlight: Amanda Faraday

The Moon Girl's not had me a year yet!  But then that's true of several of us.

FULL NAME:  Amanda Nicole Faraday

NICKNAME:  Sometimes folks call me "'Mandy."  I'm not a huge fan of that, but it's not a mean nickname so I tolerate it.

WHERE I GOT MY NAME:  Moon Girl's high school best friend, and Michael Faraday.

JUST LIKE YOU NUMBER:  #16 with a hair cut

HOMETOWN:  Windsor, California

HEAD MOLD:  Classic

HAIR COLOR:  Medium brown

EYE COLOR:  Dark brown; my right eye has both silver eye and bubble eye and hence has blinded me in that eye.  Moon knows she could have that repaired, but she and I both kind of like my short hair.  Getting my head replaced would mean long hair again.

FAVORITE COLORS:  Orange, purple, red, yellow, and earth tones

THINGS I LIKE:  Books, peace and quiet to read books, cuddling on winter nights (doesn't matter who with), cats, being a child at heart, clothes that are loose and comfortable, The Wizard of Oz (both the books and the movie), fireworks, gawking at flowers and wildlife 

THINGS I DISLIKE:  Nonsensical, nonstop blather, having scoliosis, being blind in one eye, being mistaken for Molly (sometimes that does happen), and I hate-hate-HATE heights!!!

MY CHOICE OF MUSIC:  Anything that Yo-Yo Ma plays.  

PET:  Jeeves, a tuxedo cat.

BEST FRIENDS:  Courtney and Samantha, because they're good listeners, and Julie and Joss, because they know sign language.  I'm not deaf, but it's nice to know sign language anyway.  You never know when you'll need it.  I'm also a member of the Four-Eyed Freaks.

SOMEONE I'D RATHER AVOID:  I don't dislike Lindsey and Molly, but they're both too chatty for me at times.  I'd also prefer to avoid Chatty Cathy for this reason.  

HOW I CAME HERE:  Another eBay find!  I'm a fixer-upper, so I was easy to get.

ABOUT ME:  I'm the quietest one of the bunch, except maybe for Samantha.  Unlike Samantha, my silence comes from thoughtfulness rather than depression.  I love to read, and I love to daydream about what she's read.  My favorite books are mostly juvenile fantasy, stuff like Harry Potter and Percy Jackson.  I also like House of the Scorpion and the Oz books, and The Chronicles of Narnia.  Sometimes Samantha and I discuss the Oz books since the first two were fairly popular in her day.  Samantha tells me she's surprised that the series came as far as it did over the years

*Side note from Silver Bird:  Y'all do know that Dorothy Gale was a real little girl, right?  Only she didn't survive the tornado that hit her home.

*Side note from the Moon Girl:  True story.  Or I think it's true...people did make things up for news stories back then, but it's possible that Dorothy Gale was real.  Irving, Kansas WAS real, but the folks there couldn't catch a break, before or after the 1879 tornado.

No, neither Samantha nor I have heard that story before.  Poor Dorothy, so she didn't make it?  That's sad!  No wonder L. Frank Baum wanted her to have a happy ending!  Anyway, I like the movie The Wizard of Oz as well, though not quite as much as I liked the books.  Dorothy is so darn whiny in the movie, though in her defense I'd probably be whiny too if I were in a strange land, being pursued by a witch, and in the company of a talking scarecrow, a sheet metal man with an axe, and an anthropomorphic lion.  Better to travel with a puddy tat than a bunch of sideshow escapees.  Like all cats, Jeeves is a big cat, almost as big as Kailey's dog Sandy.  That surprised both Kailey and me, but it's good for Jeeves since he loves to wrassle with dogs, and the size of the dog be danged.

If he had long hair I'd chalk his size up to him being a Maine coon (a breed known for being large), but he's got short hair so that's that.

*Side note from the Moon Girl:  LOL, I've known housecats that were big, but none of them were as big as the golden retriever Sandy is supposed to be!  My beloved Sampson (coincidentally also a tuxedo cat) weighed twenty-five pounds, and he was nowhere near as big as a goldie!

As established above, I have silver eye like Molly and Silver Bird, but I also have bubble eye, which is when the pupil of the eye separates from the plastic over it.  The end result looks like a soap bubble.

Silver eye is only an aesthetic problem for American Girls, but bubble eye blinds.  Neither the Moon Girl nor I are sure about sending me to the hospital, but maybe in the future it'll be for the best.  Having my eye repaired would certainly improve my ability to read.

Of course I do other things besides read, but since my mobility isn't great (even for an AG doll) I'm usually restricted to observing, like I did last Monday at the local fireworks show.

Yeah, the Moon Girl took a doll to the fireworks show.  Everyone knows she's a little nuts, LOL.  It was a very nice show, though the mosquitoes were something fierce...for Moon, not me, LOL again.  When twilight comes I like looking at fireflies and bats (just like Moon does), and I would like stargazing if lying on my back were more comfortable.  Wearing a back brace isn't the most fun in the world, kiddies.  Oh well, it is what it is, and I know I'm not the only one.

Good luck catching fireflies!  If that's your thing, that is.  If not...well, find some other way to make summer work for you.  Jeez, this heat is INSANE!!!

Love,
Amanda Faraday

Of dolls and bottle rockets

Behold!  Two species of bottle rocket have landed in my yard.

Kirsten is holding the smaller variety that my family always bought...I think the side of it said Moon Blasters or something like that.  Amanda has a larger variety called a Wild Goose, which I know nothing about.  I loathe bottle rockets, by the way; they're all noise and no show, and if something goes wrong then they're pretty dangerous...but then again, aren't all fireworks dangerous in the wrong hands?  Anyway, when I was sixteen Daddy loaded a bottle jam-packed with these damn things...and the bottle tipped over.  Pointing at us.  The resulting conversation went something like this:

<bottle falls over>
ME (casually):  Uh-oh...
SISTER (loudly):  RUN!!!!!!

And run we all did!  I ended up dodging behind a tree, but not before one of the rockets almost took my ear off.  No one was hurt, and no serious damage was done, but that killed any affection my family had for bottle rockets.  My mom didn't like any fireworks that flew anyway, because in her words, "They always come after me!!!"  Of course they didn't ALWAYS come after her, but we all know how unpredictable fireworks can be.  

I could fill a whole post full of Fourth of July memories, but then we'd be here all day and part of the night.  I'll just say that it was a special time of year for my family, and I really miss those days.  To the rest of y'all, be safe and have fun!  Drink beer, eat watermelon, shoot off bottle rockets, and keep your pets safe.

Happy Independence Day every day,
RagingMoon1987 

Rita Cheryl makes a friend

For the last few months Rita Cheryl has been waiting, carefully tucked away at my work station, waiting for Nellie O'Malley to come visit her (one of my patrons owns a Nellie doll).  Nellie didn't come today, nor was I really expecting her to, but someone else did.

This little My Life doll doesn't have a name.  Her sole purpose for existing is to model the clothes that her owner makes (one of the little dresses is seen above).  Rather a pity, that she's just a model and has no name.  I'd probably name her something like Vera or Fern or Jade, due largely to her lovely eyes.

Most of the My Life dolls I've seen lately have either electric blue eyes (like Airy and Jemma do) or brown eyes.  Perhaps "Vera's" eyes aren't the most realistic shade, but they're certainly very EYE-catching, LOL!

Rita Cheryl enjoyed meeting "Vera," but she's still patiently waiting for Nellie.

Much love,
RagingMoon1987

Don't you forget about me...

Here's Courtney in her new clothes.  Argos, formerly Marie-Grace's dog, has joined her.  With the dead leaves around one could be forgiven for thinking that it's fall.  Ha!  I wish!

Courtney's shirt contains a familiar message.

Obviously inspired by The Breakfast Club, which I've never seen.  First Uncle says it's good, and he usually has pretty good taste so I'll take his word for it.  As for the song, recorded by Simple Minds, it's one of my favorites.  Given my current state of mind, I've been listening to it a lot.

Don't forget,
RagingMoon1987 

AG Spotlight: Silver Bird Le

I was the Moon Girl's first Just Like You doll, but certainly not her last!

FULL NAME:  Arizona Matagorda Silver Bird Le

NICKNAME:  My full name is such a mouthful that I just go by "Silver Bird."

WHERE I GOT MY NAME:  Matagorda Bay, a song by Mark Lindsey ("Arizona"), a song by Justin Hayward ("Silverbird"), and a common Vietnamese surname.  Like I said, a mouthful!  By coincidence, Mark Lindsey also performed a song called "Silver Bird," but I like "Arizona" better.

JUST LIKE YOU NUMBER:  #4

HOMETOWN:  Rural Texas, near Wichita Falls

HEAD MOLD:  Asian (I AM a #4, after all)

HAIR COLOR:  Black with a purple streak (not permanent like Luciana's)

EYE COLOR:  Dark brown; my left eye has a little silver in it, to be expected from an American Girl my age.

FAVORITE COLORS:  Purple, purple, purple, and silver

THINGS I LIKE:  Soccer and gymnastics (the trampoline is my favorite apparatus), vintage clothes, making friends, farm animals (especially pigs), tornado history (Wichita Falls got creamed twice, once in 1964 and once in 1979), playing the piano and any other instrument that has a keyboard, walking on fence rails, urban exploration and exploring in general, writing to my pen pal (Maryellen Larkin), and the University of Alabama.  ROLL TIDE!!!

THINGS I DISLIKE:  People monkeying with my hair, and unfortunately the Moon Girl does that often.  LEAVE IT ALONE, DANG IT!!!  I also hate falling off fence rails, but that doesn't stop me from walking on them!  I don't like pig bites either.  Slim doesn't bite often, but when he does, get your hands away PRONTO!

MY CHOICE OF MUSIC:  I like both the Moody Blues and Paul Revere and the Raiders, the bands fronted by Justin Hayward and Mark Lindsey, respectively.  I'll throw Yes into the mix since I idolize Rick Wakeman, and Journey because why not?

PETS:  Slim, a pig, Becca, a goat, and Baxter, a gray and white rabbit.

BEST FRIENDS:  Kyle, because he is also a tornado buff, Luciana, because she likes to explore (and because we have pets that are hard to feed), Julie, because she likes rabbits, and Zoe and Rilla Louise, because they dream of forming a band...with me as a member!

SOMEONE I'D RATHER AVOID:  I like Doremi because we like some of the same music, but she's a major ditz and she has a mean streak.

HOW I CAME HERE:  eBay.  Moon says she got me for a steal, probably because I'm not minty-mint.  A minty-mint #4 can go for a lot nowadays.  Whatever, I don't want to be minty-mint.

ABOUT ME:  I grew up on a farm, and I'm one of the few dolls in this gang who habitually prefers jeans and pants to dresses.  Not that I don't like to get my girly-girl on every now and then, of course!  This is my favorite dress.  Sage green with purple flowers and a purple bow.

As y'all can see, I love to climb, even when I'm in a dress, though unlike some of my friends I prefer to climb fences rather than trees.  The Moon Girl calls me her Flying Wallenda, and then she usually warns me not to fall...which I did right after this picture was taken.

I also like to play soccer.  I'm the only one in Casa del Luna who plays, but the sport is taking root in Malden quite nicely.  The Moon Girl says that two of the local churches have a team.  Too bad neither of them wear purple like I do.

In addition to soccer and fence-walking I'm both an explorer and a tornado buff.  Imagine my surprise when the Moon Girl told me of a small town about a hundred miles from here that got wiped out completely by a large tornado.  Kyle, Luciana, and I are all itching to go, and Moon has promised to make that happen for us.  I think it's a pity that we don't live closer to Mose, North Dakota.

Side note from the Moon Girl:  Heck, all there is at Mose is a sign...and an abandoned house that stood up in the blow.  I think it's a pity that we don't know more about the incident at Mose.  There is virtually NOTHING online!!!  What little information I could grub up implies that Mose was wiped out by a tornado, but at least one YouTuber thinks it might've been a derecho instead.  Wikipedia also implies that Mose was hit by a derecho rather than a tornado, but we all know how trustworthy Wikipedia is!  It's also possible that Mose got hit by a one-two punch, as derechos often contain embedded tornadoes.  Interestingly, the sign in Mose reads "1899-1943," but the post office was in service from 1934 to 1954.  Back to Silver Bird now!

Yikes, I never want to experience a derecho!  I saw pictures of the damage in Iowa a few years ago and that storm was a humdinger!  Thankfully the weather in the Bootheel doesn't often get that bad; indeed, the Moon Girl says we've been blessed over the past few years...but she also fears that "our time's a-comin'," as she puts it.  Let's talk about something happy now, shall we???  Uh...I like bunnies!  Y'all saw Baxter above; he loves to play ball, believe it or not.  I also have my farm animals; they're okay as long as one keeps their fingers away from Slim's mouth.  Pigs can bite bad!  Luckily for me Slim doesn't bite often; he prefers to have his belly rubbed, like a dog.  He can eat someone out of house and home, though; Luciana says it's a tie between Slim and Goldie (her Tribble) for biggest glutton, and I believe she's right!  The pig versus the Tribble...LOL, sounds like the title of a cheesy horror movie!  As for Becca, I...well, goats are much smarter than sheep, so I have Becca trained to be an attack dog of sorts.  If I say "Becca, sic 'em!" she'll charge whoever I set her on!  I've only had to do that once...to Doremi, LOL.  Becca didn't even touch her; if I say "Becca, halt!" she'll stop, and that's what I did.  It sure made Doremi scream though!  Best laugh I've ever got!  But usually Becca is a good girl, just like Baxter and Slim are good boys.  She loves to have her head scratched, right at the base of her horns.

Regarding things that are cuddly but don't wiggle, here's my doll and my teddy bear.  Maryellen Larkin and Miss AG Bear.  I've had both of 'em less than a week.

Maryellen is my pen pal, and I asked her if it was okay if I owned her mini-self.  I think she was flattered and a little embarrassed, LOL!  But anyway, I own a small version of Maryellen now, and she's made fast friends with Miss AG Bear.

That's all about me, more or less.  If I take up any hobbies I'll let y'all know. 

Very truly yours,
Silver Bird Le

AG Spotlight: Courtney Moore

I think American Girl likes me a little too much.  Have you seen all the crazy videos on YouTube?

FULL NAME:  Courtney Deborah Moore

NICKNAME:  "Court"

BIRTHDAY:  February 12th

HOMETOWN:  Orange Valley, California

HEAD MOLD:  Classic

HAIR COLOR:  The Moon Girl calls it "honey blonde."  It has a slight reddish cast to it.

EYE COLOR:  Medium blue

FAVORITE COLOR:  Purple

THINGS I LIKE:  Vintage video games (especially Pac-Man), mix tapes, eighties toys like My Little Pony and Strawberry Shortcake, hair do-dads, small animals (especially guinea pigs), gummy bears and candy in general, pajama parties, stuffed animals, Star Trek and Star Wars, the old MTV

THINGS I DISLIKE:  Humidity (it makes my curls frizz), family conflict, licorice, earthquakes, modern-day MTV and reality TV in general,

MY CHOICE OF MUSIC:  Whitney Houston, Cyndi Lauper, Huey Lewis and the News, Michael Jackson, eighties pop and rock in general...except Bruce Springsteen.  NO ONE in the Moon House likes Bruce Springsteen!

PET:  Parsley, a guinea pig.  

*Side note from the Moon Girl:  I said this last week but I'll say it again:  I wish one of these girls had a chinchilla for a pet!  Not that guinea pigs aren't amazing too, of course.

BEST FRIENDS:  Molly, because of course, Samantha, because she's a good listener, Justin, because he and Samantha are kind of a package deal, Amanda, because she thinks things through, and Sadie, because she likes My Little Pony.  I'm in the Star Wars Gang with Luciana, Rita Cheryl, and Z (Z compares us to the girls in Turning Red; she compares me to Priya for some reason), and I also belong to the Dumb Blonde Society, much to Luciana's chagrin.

SOMEONE I'D RATHER AVOID:  Doremi is too impulsive and has a mean streak.  Also Luciana sometimes, since Luciana doesn't like the idea of Dumb Blondes...or dumb anyone.  We just call our group the Dumb Blonde Society, Luciana!  We needed a catchy name!  Whatever, Astro-Luci knows I love her.

HOW I CAME HERE:  eBay find, two months after my debut, no less.

ABOUT ME:  I'm still not over the fact that I've moved from one seismic zone to another, nor am I over how different the terrain is.  Orange Valley is located in a valley surrounded by hills and mountains, and the Bootheel a combination of floodplain, drained swamp, and ancient seabed.  The terrain isn't as flat as parts of Oklahoma, but it's flat enough to allow for good farming.  So while I'm not quite used to seeing the horizon every morning I do love how the seasons change more here, with the flowers in the spring and the leaves in the fall.  I had great fun romping in the leaves last fall, for example.

Overall I'm quiet, thoughtful, and a little on the shy side, but I don't take life super-seriously.  I like to collect stuffed animals.  Vintage or modern, it doesn't matter to me.  Here's my bunch.  I've got a Popple and a modern-day Care Bear in that mix, plus two mini Surprizamals.  

I've also got a unicorn, though Sadie is the unicorn fan of the bunch.  Hey, who DOESN'T love unicorns?

I still like My Little Pony after all these years, though in this case I prefer the old-school ponies.  The modern ponies are okay, but I don't think they're as cute as the ones I grew up with.  Don't tell Sadie that, LOL.  Here's my two; I've got Minty and Firefly, though for some reason Firefly is in the Collectors pose rather than her namesake pose.  Kind of a downer, but I won't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Moon says she has a small collection of ponies, both vintage and modern, and Sadie and I are dying to see them!  I wonder if she has Mimic?

*Side note from the Moon Girl:  No, no Mimic.  I keep my eyes peeled, though!  Mimic is green, and the readers know my opinions on green.  I do feel your surprise regarding your Firefly, by the way.  My Medley is in the Firefly pose and it's a nice, dynamic pose.

Oh well, there are plenty of other nice ponies besides Mimic, and I love my Firefly no matter what pose she's in.  But now I REALLY want to see Moon's ponies!  In other news I'm something of a nerd, being a fan of Star Wars and to a lesser extent Star Trek.  I couldn't be considered the hardcore Trekkie that Luciana is, but I do like Star Wars enough to pick a side (I'm a Jedi).  Moon even bought Luciana and me lightsabers, but they're not here yet.  Moon says that parts of them are 3-D printed, and all three of us are excited about that.  Such technology wasn't even dreamed of in my day...at least not that I know of.  Back in my day transplanting a baboon heart into a baby was considered cutting edge.  Shudder...it's so nice to know I'll never need something like that.  Maybe a limb replacement or a head reattachment some day, but never a heart.  I hope the Moon Girl never needs a new heart.

I'll let y'all...y'all???  Listen to me, I'm already talking like the folks around here do!  But I'll leave the lightsabers to Luciana, since she's more excited about them than I am...which is saying a lot, because I'm pretty excited.  We'll let y'all know when they get here, though!

Lots of love,
Courtney Deborah Moore

AG Spotlight: Julie Albright

I'm the Moon House's resident hippie...except for the Moon Girl herself.

FULL NAME:  Julie Marie Albright

NICKNAMES:  "Cool Hands Albright," "Alley Oop," "Jules," "Sport."  The Moon Girl never uses any of these, but Lindsey likes the nickname "Jules."

BIRTHDAY:  May 1st

HOMETOWN:  San Francisco, California

HEAD MOLD:  Josefina

HAIR COLOR:  Light blonde

EYE COLOR:  Brown

FAVORITE COLORS:  Red and purple, though it's hard to pick.

THINGS I LIKE:  Basketball and sports in general, handcrafts, browsing junk stores, wearing comfortable clothes, watching the world go by, macramé projects, Barbie dolls, small animals (especially rabbits)

THINGS I DISLIKE:  People who disrespect the environment, modern pop music, heights, snakes

MY CHOICE OF MUSIC:  Elton John, Rod Stewart, the Beatles, Chicago...classic rock in general.  I also like Motown and some disco.

PET:  Nutmeg, a brown rabbit.

BEST FRIENDS:  I belong to the Dumb Blonde Society (even though I'm not dumb), I play basketball with Kyle, I occasionally beachcomb with Kailey and Marina, and sometimes I talk sign language with Amanda and Joss.  I consider Kailey my best friend, since we're both environmentalists from California.  Lastly, Silver Bird and I like to trade rabbit-rearing tips, since we both own rabbits.

SOMEONE I'D RATHER AVOID:  Samantha's too gloomy!  Felicity and Kyle also sometimes make this list since we don't see eye-to-eye on politics.  I've NEVER won a debate against Felicity!

HOW I CAME HERE:  Moon found me on eBay for fifty bucks and fifty cents!

ABOUT ME:  I love watching the world change around me, though some of the changes sadly aren't nice.  Modern-day politicians take things entirely too far!  Since I can't win a political debate against Felicity I try to stick to conversations that are NOT political in nature.  I used to like beachcombing, but there are no beaches to comb around here.  I do still like to play basketball, and Kyle is arguably one of the best players I've ever met.  He's not unbeatable, but he doesn't give up until the fat lady sings.  I like his dogs too; I even offered to walk them for some spare change, but they get so much exercise playing with us that they don't need much walking!  Not that I need much money anyway, since the Moon Girl supplies most of what I need on her own dollar.  <blushes>  She really spoils us!  Anyway, as fond as I am of Kyle's dogs (and dogs in general), I prefer small animals like rabbits and guinea pigs.  I love Nutmeg but I'd like to try my hand at owning a chinchilla someday.  The Moon Girl owned one and she says Bentley was one of the most rewarding pets she ever had.

*Side note from the Moon Girl:  I STILL mourn for my Bentley!  Her death was so sudden and I'm still not over it!

Understandable, Moon Girl.  The memory of a good pet cannot be forgotten, especially if the death is sudden and/or traumatic.  Not to rub it in, but I'm glad Nutmeg is a stuffed rabbit.  That way I'll have her forever!  The Moon and I both wonder why American Girl hasn't released a chinchilla yet, especially after they've done fish and guinea pigs and critters like that.  Airy has a hedgehog, and AG hasn't done one of those either.  

*Side note from Airy:  I look HORRID in that picture!!!  I love my hedgie, though!  I named him Durian, after the spiky fruit.

*Side note from the Moon Girl:  Note how alive Julie's eyes look compared to Airy's.  And to think I once bashed brown American Girl eyes.

You also said that it depends on lighting, Moon.  In this case you got the lighting just right!  And I agree, Airy.  Hedgehogs are outta sight!  A little sharp, but far out nonetheless.  In my day hedgehogs weren't the most common creatures in pet stores; they didn't start becoming really popular until Courtney's time.  As out there as Airy can be, I'm surprised she doesn't own a snake!

*Side note from Airy:  That's Lark's thing, not mine!

Oh...right, I remember that.  Ewww...snakes...I'm not a big fan of snakes.  Oh yeah, Airy also owns a lop-eared bunny rabbit, but look how small Hopalong is next to Nutmeg!

Do miniature rabbits get that small, or is Nutmeg just huge?  Or is it a little bit of both?  I've read that miniature rabbits can sometimes be as small as kittens, so that would explain it. 

On my downtime I like to listen to music or write poetry, though NOT at the same time!  If I try to write poetry while listening to music, I rip off half the song's lyrics!  I have taken a few stabs at writing my own song lyrics, but I'm not very good at it.  Felicity, the guitarist of our bunch, says it doesn't matter how good I am at it as long as I have fun and create something meaningful to me.  I admit that I agree with her wholeheartedly on that.  We may not agree on everything, but we see eye to eye on the important stuff.  Now if only Felicity had her guitar, maybe she and I could collab...

Well, I'm going to park my keyster in front of a box fan and wish that I had my egg chair.  Moon says someday she'll get it.  

Love and XOXOX,
Julie Marie Albright

Take me with you!

Change, nothin' stays the same
Unchained, and ya hit the ground runnin'!
--Van Halen, "Unchained"

Like Van Halen, I tend to hit the ground running these days.  Up at seven-thirty.  Take my dogs potty, then feed dogs and cats.  Get dressed.  Run over to Mama's place to take care of her animals.  Usually then I'd head over to McDonald's for breakfast and get my happy butt to work after that, but thanks to some lovely insurance caveats, I have to flush Mama's drains.  I don't mind going over to help Mama, as spending time with her is always time well-spent...but the damn drains are FINNICKY!  Anyway, flush drains, receive threatening message from an ex-Facebook friend, and FINALLY get to work...seven minutes late, in a foul mood, with Luciana in tow because screw the rules.

Yes, Luciana.  This morning when I was getting dressed I glanced over at my dolls, some of whom are jumbled together waiting for a review, and I saw Luciana with her hand slightly out.  Pardon the terrible lighting.

I solemnly swear that I did not pose her like that.  But anyway, she reminded me of a story I saw on Den of Angels, where a young woman was preparing to leave her room, when she saw her very tightly strung ball-jointed doll.  BJDs with tight strings tend to stay with their limbs bent, but this time the doll had his arms outstretched like he was pleading to be held.  Same sort of thing with Luciana; she's a relatively new doll and her strings are still tight, but just the same she had her hands out then.  Very well, then...allons-y, Rose Tyler.

Oh well, at least my life is merely "Unchained" and not to the point of "Jump."  OMG, that song tainted my opinion on Van Halen for YEARS!!!  For real, I hate "Jump" that much, LOL.  And to the ex-Facebook friend, fool around with me and I'll tell everyone that you're not really a royal.  Seriously, the guy is deluded!

Love and box fans (stay close to one),
RagingMoon1987