"The Dollie Fashion Show" Series

As a reader of my Linda's Blog you are probably well aware that my dollies have minds of their own. Maybe that's even an understatement. They have strong wills and strong points of view.

Plus, they have a distinct advantage over me in sheer numbers. There are literally thousands of them in the "Dollie Storage Room." Yes, I know - my creative juices have gotten the better of me in the last few years. I, simply, have made way too many dolls. That's neither here nor there now. The fact is there are a lot of them. And, when they want something - well, THEY WANT IT! So demanding.

So, what is it that they want now. The dollies all got together the other night - while I was sleeping - and decided that they were going to put on a "Dollie Fashion Show." They decided that they wouldn't even ask me if that was "okay." My opinion, I guess, no longer matters. They want to do this, so they will. In a democratic household they outnumber me 1,000 to 1. Even if my vote were to count double or triple or more, they'd still far outnumber me.

Besides, when my husband was in the "Dollie Storage Room" the other day, which he rarely if ever is, they asked HIM! And, guess what he said? He said, "Why, that's a marvelous idea! You should definitely have a "Dollie Fashion Show."

So, the dollies were happy with that. They had permission. Not from me - which didn't matter. They'd at least asked one human. What more did I want? Well, I could be very unhappy with that as I know that the dollies know that I would have said no and they decided to play us against each other anyway. "Your husband said we could!!!!!!" Talk about a bunch of children or should I say "dollies." They knew better then to pull a stunt like this.

Of course, when I got my husband aside a little later I told him that we had to have a solid front with the dollies. We could not let them pit us against each other. Whether we agreed or not we still had to support the other and back each other up or there would be no living with the "dollies." He agreed and said, "I'll try to do better next time, dear! They just seemed so happy and excited about the prospect of a fashion show. I didn't want to disappoint them."

A little while later I got a message that "Doris Marie" wanted to see me. Whenever the dollies want to smooth things over with me they always sent "Doris Marie." After all, she is named after my Grandmother and, well, you paid attention to my Grandmother. So, Doris Marie came to see me. And, it seems she'd brought a list with her. Hmmmm...... What was on the list? Hmmmm????

Well, the dollies decided that since they were going to put on a fashion show (for a good cause - their own!) they needed some "Goodwill", some "PR", some "By Word Of Mouth", some "Advertising." All of this was a way of telling me that they wanted "press reviews". In other words, they wanted me to write about a few of them in a "The Dollie Fashion Show" series.

I was so tired at this point that I just agreed. Plus, Doris Marie is just so darn cute it's hard to refuse her. She knows that I can't win when it comes down to a battle of the brains debate. She always wins. She's just too darn smart. Either that, or I'm too darn old and tired.

In any event, she won the debate or, should I say, lack of debate. The dollies would get their fashion show series. They decided that they wanted the theme of the fashion show to be "A Little Of This and A Little Of That!" With that kind of theme you never know what you're going to see. Stay tuned.

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Pick! Me! No, Pick Me!

I don't believe it. I just don't believe it. What am I talking about? Well, can you believe that the boy dolls are just as bad as the girl dolls? I never would have thought that. Well, I was wrong. They are just as catty, just as jealous, and just as devious as the girl dolls. And, here I was thinking I was doing a good thing by writing a a series of articles about the boy dolls entitled "The Boys Are Back In Town!"

Who knew that things would get this out of control. Certainly not I. Well, given that I've been around the block a few years I probably should have known. Here's what has happened so far.

I decided to write a series of articles about some of the boy dolls to show my appreciation for the important part that they play in my house with keeping the girls dolls happy. So, I told them I would write articles on 11 out of the 34 boys. The boys decided to pick names out of a hat and decided that Helena could be trusted to draw the names. No problem, right? Wrong, Linda.

Right off the bat the boys started to grumble. They didn't like the paper. It was too thin. You could see right through it. They didn't like the ink. It looked invisible. They couldn't decide who was going to write the names down? What order would be used? Whose name would come first? Whose name would be last?

Could the person writing the names be trusted to write them all the same size or would some of the names be bigger than others? Would this be a tipoff to Helena to draw that name?

How would they fold the paper. In half? In quarters? Double folded? Triple folded? In a ball? How would the papers be placed in the hat? In what order? Should they be allowed to spit on their piece of paper for good luck? On, and on, and on it went.

I told them that this was getting ridiculous. We were just drawing names out of a hat. What's the big deal? Well, to the boys, there is drawing names out of a hat and there is DRAWING names out of a hat. There was a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it and EVERYTHING had to be negotiated. I told them, "Fine. keep arguing, or should I say - negotiating. At this rate I won't have to write the articles for my "The Boys Are Back In Town" series until next spring." And, with that I walked out of the Dollie Storage Room.

As I was leaving one of the boy dolls slipped me a note. I waited until I had left the Dollies Storage Room to read it as I didn't want to acknowledge having secretly received a note. It simply said "PICK ME to be first and I will sing your praises from the highest mountaintop!" Hmmm! Intriguing. I could stand my praises being sung from that highest moutaintop. Hmmm! I will have to ponder this.

"Hey, What About Us! The Other Dolls" Series

Just when you think things are calm they suddenly explode. I survived the near riot in "The Dollie Storage Room." Then I survived the "Boys Are Back In Town" series fiasco. And, then I survived "The Dollie Fashion Show" ultimatum. Now this.

First the dolls of my own creation turn on me and now the dolls that I've made based on other designers patterns are turning on me. What is going on?

Well, it seems that dollie jealousy just loves to rear its ugly head. The "Other" dolls - you know, the ones I made based on other designers patterns decided that they'd had enough of all this attention being paid to the dolls I'd designed. The "Other" dolls wanted their fair share of attention. "After all, we're human, too! We deserve some attention being paid to us. We're not second rate citizens!" they said.

Well, while I might agree I think we need to correct that statement. They're "dollies" too. Human, definitely not. Just because jealousy is a human trait that does not make them human and citizens would imply that they had rights. They are neither human nor do they have any rights. I think there's a word for that - personification. Isn't that projecting human qualities on to an inanimate object? Giving an inanimate object a human personality? I believe so. And, as inanimate objects they have no rights. I think that's a correct statement. Doris Marie would know. Maybe I'll ask her.

In any event, when I gave it careful consideration I had to agree with the "Others." They were suffering from a lack of attention.

Plus, by sheer numbers they outnumbered even all of my doll designs. I really couldn't afford to have the "Other Dolls" fighting with my designs. The Dollie Storage Room wasn't big enough for that. It needed "peace and harmony" at all times.

So, I agreed to do a series of articles entitled "Hey What About Us! The Other Dolls" Series on  my Linda's Blog .

Plus, some of the "Others" really did have some interesting stories to tell. In fact, they were such an eclectic mix I'm sure they would have wonderful stories to tell. Just don't tell my doll designs I said so. They are just so finicky. Yes, definitely very difficult to please. So, please don't tell them and, certainly, don't show them this blog article. Boy, I hope they don't see it.

Actually, I'm looking forward to writing the "Others" stories. The stories should be as varied as the dolls are. With the "Others" we have Victorian dolls, Colonial dolls, Country dolls, Primitive dolls, Raggedies (i.e.: Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy dolls), Boy dolls, Girl dolls, Animals, Woodland dolls, and Clowns. We also have Fall dolls, Winter dolls, Summer dolls, Spring dolls. Plus, there are Halloween dolls, Thanksgiving doll, Christmas dolls, 4th of July dolls, ornaments, and other holiday dolls.

This means we have dolls of every kind of every conceivable kind to chose from including scarecrows, witches, ghosts, pilgrims, Victorians, Colonial women and Colonial men, Frankenstein's, Santa's, angels, Uncle Sam's, snowmen, snow-ladies, pumpkins, dogs, cats, bears, clowns, reindeer, deer or moose, penguins, ewe's, rabbits or bunnies, Dracula's, turkeys, elves, ornaments, carolers, and leprechauns.

This will be fun. I'm looking forward to starting it. But, please don't tell my designs I said so. Are you satisfied now? You're gonna get your "Other Dolls" series. Well, are you happy now?

The Boys Are Back In Town! Series

Come on, sing along.... The boys are back in town! The boys are back in town! No? Well how about....... Let's hear it for the boys! Come on now....Let's hear it for the boys! Bet you have both of those tunes in your head now, don't you?

Lets face it. For the most part there are not a lot of doll patterns out there for boys. That's one of the reasons why I like to make boy patterns to accompany my girl patterns. Plus, I have a very selfish reason. It keeps the peace in my house. The girls are so busy trying to charm the boys and get their attention that they don't have any time to fight amongst themselves. After all, with hundreds of female dolls in my house it can get down right ugly!

The boy doll patterns reminded me that there were 34 of them which was 38% of my total of 90 patterns. Given that the boys play such an important part in our house they felt that it would only be fair to write an article or two, or even three about them on my Linda's Blog.

Well, given their numbers I told them I couldn't do stories right now on all 34 of them. They countered," Geez, Linda, why not? You have enough websites, don't you?" I told them while that was true that I just did not have enough time right now to do that. They would have to pick up to 11 boys and I would do a series of three or four articles for them but that was it.

So, they grumbled and mumbled and said a few choice words under their breath that I didn't hear - which is a good thing or there wouldn't be any stories. When they had finished crumbling they talked among themselves and reluctantly agreed.

The problem was how to decide who to pick. What criteria should they use? Looks, strength, personality, IQ, charm, age, income, etc? What? After much negotiation they agreed that they would put everyone's name on a piece of paper, fold the paper, and put it into a hat. The first 11 numbers picked would be the winners.

That would work, but who should they chose to pick the numbers? Who was honest and trustworthy? Certainly not Linda they thought? Who then? They decided that it had to be a "dollie." But, which dollie?

"Ambrose - With the Big Eyes" suggested that maybe out of respect they should choose one of the dolls from the "Gray is Beautiful" Series. They were the oldest dolls, after all. So, the boys talked amongst themselves. After much heated discussion the boys finally agreed. But, which one of the five should they chose?

"Magdalene - The Drama Queen" was too much of a drama queen. Not her. "Sweet Julianna" was much too shy. She never wanted to intrude so, not her. "Mabel - I Might" could do anything but she was working in the rivet factory. Not her. That left "Susan Renee - My Beautiful Gray" and "Helena." "Susan Renee - My Beautiful Gray" was too much of a snob. She wouldn't associate with some of them so, not her. That left "Helena." Helena was a tough old bird and could certainly handle a lottery for a group of 34 boys.

They all agreed that "Helena" was perfect. But, would she do it? And, who should ask her? None of them wanted to get their heads bitten off by a tough old bird. So, they decided that "Elmer's Little Boy" should ask his sister "Doris Marie" to ask "Helena" which she did. "Helena" agreed of course. After all, there wasn't anything she hadn't done or seen in her life. She couldn't certainly handle a little lottery.

"Helena" knew the female "dollies" might get their noses all out of joint since the series wasn't about them so she decided to garner some support for the boys. She said, "So, what do you say ladies? Let's hear it for the boys!!!!" At that, the "dollies" started to sing, the music started to play and the "dollies" started to dance. Yes, siree.....it was going to be a "hot time in the dollie storage room tonight!"

Come on, ladies! Let's hear it for the boys!........ The boys are back in town......The boys are back in town...