It All Started While Cleaning My Daughter's Room!

     It all started when I was cleaning my daughter's room a little over a year ago, and discovered that she had broken the top to my "Baby Go-Bye-Bye's" car!  I decided to go on Ebay and see if I could find a replacement.  I did eventually, but in the mean time I found a lot of other dolls to "win"!  That term is so relative, as you don't really "win" anything, but pay a price for it, sometimes a high price!  I can win any auction, I just place my bid, which is at least $30 more than I should ever pay for the item, fifteen seconds before the auction ends.  Then I not only hope that I won, but that the highest bidder before me was not as enthusiastic as I was.
     Another way to find dolls is Church rummage sales and flea markets.  My daughter and I found two very cute matching porcelain ballerinas, a cute blonde doll and a swing for my Pepper doll (Tammy's sister) at a very reasonable price at a Church fair.  The only problem with finding dolls at these rummage sales and flea markets is you may find quite a few dolls at a great price, but they aren't always the ones you are actually looking for. Yard sales are also a possibility, but unless a newspaper or online ad states specifically that they will be selling dolls, you can end up wasting an entire day going from house to house.
     Dolls shows and conferences are a great way to potentially find dolls and meet new and interesting people.  You may make friendships for a lifetime!  I recently attended a doll conference in the Spring. I had a great time and met a lot of very nice and knowledgeable people.  I also met one of my all time doll "idols", Cindy Sabulis, who has written many doll books.  During the course of the conference, we were bused to a doll show and I still regret not picking up that Dracula doll for $111,  as the cheapest I've seen him on Ebay is $125!
     If doll collecting is your hobby, my advice would be not to rely too heavily on Ebay to round out your collection.  Give your self other options, you may be surprised at what you'll find and who you'll meet!
   

Do You Have Anything Nice to Say?

     I began watching YouTube over a year ago, mainly out of boredom with my possible T.V. show options.  I discovered the beauty community right off the bat and ended up getting involved myself.  One of my favorite beauty contributors, Sandy, has made the decision to stop uploading any new videos.  The reason is what is referred to on YouTube as "the haters", people who purposefully write nasty and degrading comments to YouTube contributors.  It is really a shame as Sandy has a lot to offer, and not just in the realm of beauty.  I really enjoyed her memories of her childhood, or stories about her grandchildren, or just her take on a particular product, even if I didn't plan to buy it myself.  We really can't afford to lose her, as those of us in the mid-forties to fifties age range on YouTube, are few and far between.  We are forced to, due to the insensitivity or indifference of others.

     What ever happened to the "Golden Rule"?  I guess my phrasing is old fashioned, does "Karma" have more meaning to some?  Or maybe we have a whole generation or two of people who think their blunt honesty is refreshing, when it is only hurtful.  I think it all comes down to the anonymity of the internet, and how it gives some courage to say whatever pops into their heads, with no filter, when that filter would definitely exist if they ran into you on the street.  This situation has actually existed for years.  Before the internet was even a term, I worked for a major computer software company in New England in the 1980s/1990s.  This company had a kind of internet within the company, an online forum encompassing a wide variety of subjects, and the nastiness existed there, or maybe began there.  Whether you call it the "Golden Rule", "Karma" or "What goes around, comes around?", you should think before you type.  Whether you realize it or not, your words can hurt and possibly cause someone to lose their favorite YouTuber's videos.  Or possibly cause something even worse to happen.  My mother had the best advice, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all!"

I Just Love Dolls!

     I can't remember a time in my life when dolls where not a part of it.  When no one could attend my fifth birthday party due to a snow storm, my mother sat my dolls around the kitchen table and they attended the party!  As I got older, I packed them up and would check on them every summer, cleaning them up and repacking them for the following year.  I got more serious about my collection in the 1980s and amassed quite a collection of storybook character dolls as well as a collection of Barbies, which where taboo in my household when I was a child.

     I took a break from doll collecting when my four kids were little, but after a divorce and remarriage, my new husband encouraged me to start my collection up again.  So now my living room is filled with miniature tables, chairs and doll food with about fifty dolls surrounding them. Oh, I should mention that some of them do belong to my only daughter, who luckily has also become an avid doll collector.  You actually would be hard pressed to walk into a room in my house that doesn't have a doll in it.  Of course there are none in the bathrooms or the kitchen, but the bulk of my 600 plus collection is stored in my basement!   It's just a way of life for me, and as my children get older, on the cusp of leaving the nest, they are my unconditional friends and companions!  You can't beat that!