Black Friday is here and the local morning news stations seemed to be at every shopping location to interview the blurry-eyed, giggly, sleep deprived consumers. As a service to the community they periodically provided tips to...

Apples and oranges and fashion dolls. To compare them, I think that Barbie and Tyler are apples to Gene’s orange. Barbie is melons (obviously) to the grapes of Bratz. As a consumer and collector, I appreciate them all and I am...

My mom cherished the family stories that she heard growing up and as I grew up she liked to remind me of things that I had done. Sometimes it would be embarrassing and other times old wounds would be opened and I’d reiterate my...

Just as the familiar scent of autumn arrived in the evening air and sidewalks became alive with the crunch of fallen leaves, my interest in dolls shifted from warm to cool. While in childlike anticipation of the Fall/Holiday...

At this time of year I develop what I call Sears Wish Book syndrome. As a little girl that catalog meant that Christmas was coming and I could prepare for my visit to Santa. Even though one year I got distracted and wondered why...

My dolls are displayed in rotating groups, so my storage system was organized to decrease the time spent changing displays and increase the time enjoying the results. For practical reasons, organized storage requires less space,...

Financially doll collecting can get you into a serious mess. But if you have an actual mess, you can use your doll investment to help you develop an organizational system flexible enough to be used for other household projects....

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...

Having faced personal financial recessions, the current global financial recession reminds me to be grateful for what I learned along the way. As a collector, it was a challenge to shift my mindset from focusing on the fear of...