DOLLS

I chose to preorder a doll in March for a few reasons:

• Her multiple points of articulation, warm complexion, and overall appeal fascinated me.
• The seller from whom I ordered offered a slightly reduced price and free shipping.
• I wanted to avoid buyer's regret in the event of a quick sellout before acquiring one.

Lately I am having such confusing days. Always feeling like I am not quite finishing everything I need to get done. Realizing for the first time, I think there really are not enough hours in a day. Then I start to wonder when did we get this big? And is this what I really wanted???

Want to experience the sensation of adding a new doll to your collection without draining your budget?  Try redressing one of your dolls.  Yes, redressing will give you a quick, "I have a new doll" fix.  I frequently engage in this activity.

While in my mid-twenties, I was astonished to learn that most people couldn’t deal with confrontation, let alone choose to instigate it. No matter my age or their level of authority, when I was convinced that I was right about something or certain that they were terribly mistaken, I would express and defend my opinion to the bitter end.

You may wonder what this has to do with dolls.

I hand selected each of my dolls, which is why each one is dear to me; their monetary value is secondary.  Even my "cookie cutter" dolls, whose market value is relatively nil, possess sentimental value.   They began my adult collection.  Dolls with unremarkable brown faces:

I love dolls. Don’t get me wrong, but today I had an experience that suggests to me that perhaps I’m not cut out for doll play like I was as a child. I had to change a doll’s full outfit for a photo shoot, and it was a painstaking and, at times, emotionally traumatizing process. Taking off tights, shoes, jacket, skirt, shirt, underwear, tie and wig wasn’t too bad but then I had to change feet, and here’s where the emotional part comes in.

Well UFDC, the largest doll convention of the year has come and gone. Which means we are in the second half of the year, and I must now concentrate on the dolls I need for next year, and all the loose ends which need tidying up. So this week I am spending my time sculpting, sewing, and drawing.

After Tuesday, November 4, 2008, I was prepared for an assortment of portrait dolls of the new White House residents, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. No one could tell me anything to the contrary, especially after viewing Tom Tierney’s, pre-election, Obama Paper Dolls: Collectible Campaign Edition (Dover, 2008).

Here are some tips on how not to negotiate your doll budget with your significant other. Weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth have their place when it comes to relationships, but not in your doll budget.