Good morning! It’s sunny right now – very cold – but sunny. We’re supposed to get mixed winter precipitation later in the day. Maybe an inch of snow? But since all of that will turn to rain overnight, the snow will disappear. This is part of the storm that has been crossing the country. I know that areas north of us will get more snow. Messy, of course. We might get some snow next Monday night, but if things go as they have been, it will be a big, fat nothing.
The strangest winter I’ve ever seen.
Meet Mabel:
Let me explain. My friend, Jutta, who lives in Toronto, put this girl up for ‘adoption,’ as they say in Blythe world. The price was really, really low or I wouldn’t have contemplated adopting her. I initially made some inquiries about her. Jutta had purchased her last year through a customizer who is no longer on Etsy, She thinks she was Russian. But that’s all we know because the back plate of the head wasn’t signed by the artist.
I was so taken by her eyebrows and intense eyes! And her freckles. A week went by. I checked in with Jutta and she was still available. Another few days went by. I just couldn’t get her out of my thoughts. You know that my favorite look is intense, almost fierce, eyes and eyebrows. Her eyebrows were beautifully painted.
Pink hair wasn’t necessarily on my list, but I find I’m liking it more and more.
Finally, I bit the bullet. I told Don and his first response was “Oh, good! Show me a picture!”
I, of course, have nowhere to put her, so he was in on this last night:
Mabel taking in the crowded conditions.
The solution. The girls look a tad overwhelmed, don’t you think?
Mabel came with a licca body. I’m not a fan. Though they’re cute, they’re not really posable. The hardcore Blythe collectors who keep the dolls on stands in protective cabinets often like licca bodies. But I pose my girls (that’s half the fun of collecting) so I will replace the body. And the neck adaptor is a little loose, too. For now, she’s fine, but she will be having surgery in the future. I’ve already trimmed some uneven ends of her hair.
Olivia also has a licca body so both girls will be scheduled for surgery in a month or two.
We’re glad she’s here.
Stay safe.
Happy Wednesday.
I think Mabel will find her spot. She kinda has that look. She really looks like she has a personality. Arne and Carlos just had podcast on knitting sweaters for Blyth dolls. I didn’t watch it yet but thought it might be interesting.
We’re expecting a lot of snow tonight and I’m fine about it. It’s been a pretty mild winter so far.
Eileen
If you like the podcast (I’m unfamiliar with it) send me the link, Eileen.
I really miss snow this winter. It’s been disappointing! I’m glad you’re getting it.
Much love,
Claudia
Never mind! I found it, Eileen! I like these guys.
I think they are so entertaining. What a couple of characters.
I do, too! I was really charmed by them.
xoxo
Check out the episode when they are building a gingerbread house. I laughed until I cried.
I will. Thanks, cousin!
welcome, mabel! you have the great good fortune of a warm, wonderful family and new home. just be careful with the crowd-surfing! :)
the photos of the girls have me wondering … you requested ideas for where the girls could go … do their knees bend? if so, perhaps those in the front row could bend their knees and dangle their feet over the front edge of the cabinet (and maybe have some gentle sticky-tape on the top of the cabinet to help keep them in place); then the others could move a bit forward to make room for some of the older sisters/taller girls to stand up in the back row (as for a photo). might that work?
good luck with today’s weather and the girls’ upcoming surgeries. you can do it!
love all the color and light in the top photo. what a great place to plunk down, settle in and just be. no matter your weather.
still waiting on what we’re told will be an ice (ugh) storm here; it’s supposed to start by noon. as a precaution, i spent last night with members of my family and will do so again tonight as the ice could fall for 24 hours.
very windy with dark grey skies right now.
a more welcome arrival was finding my federal tax refund in my bank account yesterday … no long call to the irs needed. :)
hope something good happens for everyone today!
kathy
They’re too top heavy to be close to the edge, Kathy. That’s asking for trouble!
So happy that you got your refund!
Stay safe with that nasty ice storm coming in.
don’t want trouble for anyone! how about with hidden seatbelts?
so much of the country is getting hit by these big storms. stay safe, everyone!
kathy
Too much work!
xo
yeah, there’s that, too.
you will find a way, a place for them all. :)
xo
She is sure a doll, I love her expression. Glad she’s in a loving home.
We are in a storm warning for the next two days. I’ll be staying in and sewing and working on an impossible puzzle. I’d actually like to send it to you and see if you can figure it out.
Stay safe, Darlene.
I think we’re getting off easy considering what other areas of the country are getting.
Reminds me of being a kid, piling in the back seat of someone’s mother’s car—one forward, one back, one forward again. Seems like we could get 8-10 little butts back there, in the way back machine.
I remember those days!
Stay safe, Shanna.
Mabel is adorable – I love her lips!!
I’m pretty happy she’s here!
Thanks, Jenny.
Stay safe.
What’s the saying…. there’s always room for one more? It works! Mabel is joining a happy family! We had a lot of wind yesterday…I was at the Honda dealer and a tree fell on an employee’s car…calmer today! Stay warm!
Oh, that poor employee!
Stay safe, Barrie.
I am chuckling at the photo of Mabel sitting on laps and Kathy’s comment on crowd surfing! All of their faces have such personality and you wonder what they are thinking! Adorable!
Thanks so much, Melanie!
They do have personality, don’t they?
Stay safe.
Mable looks like she is thinking “who are these people that look so much like me? Could we be related?” She is very sweet but I’m sure nobody is going to boss Mabel around. I love her old-fashioned name and so happy she has found her foreverhome with a loving mom and dad and lots of siblings. Congratulations!
We’re supposed to get freezing rain/ice pellets/snow/sleet starting this evening into tomorrow so we were out and about today running errands. It’s already started. Stay cozy. Stay safe everyone. Hugs, Elaine
Thanks so much, Elaine. When I finally figure out how to display them, she’ll get lots of quality time with her sisters.
Stay safe!
I’m loving little Mabel! She’s got her very own look! Have fun with her, Claudia.
She does. She might be hard to handle — we’ll see.
Stay safe, Judy.
Mabel is marvelous; I love the shading around the nose and cheeks. She looks pretty perfect to me just the way she is but it’ll be fun to see what you do for her. Yes, all the girls look a bit wary of her crashing the pad.
Dog is on meds for an infection so is up all hours of the night needing to pee constantly. So that’s why we’re up at 4am PST, getting him outside and back in to the warmth of the house, but we’re also antsy for all this rain that is supposed to soak Southern California today and especially Friday. It’s hovering all around us. So get here already!! The L.A. news on Weds said that we can expect snow on the Hollywood sign; it’s within the realm of possibility. CRAZY. My own northernmost county is in a blizzard warning from Friday 4am to Saturday 4pm. This is NUTS! Blizzard? Are you kidding me?
I remember getting a powdered-sugar dusting on our lower foothills in 1977. And it actually snowed ONCE when I was in Grade 2; we rushed to the classroom windows at school to watch it fall; it melted as soon as it touched ground. I mean, we hope each year for rain Jan-Mar and that we can get snow on our high-elevation MOUNTAINS but they’re talking, again, the foothills, which is low-elevation like 1000 ft. It’s actually pretty exciting if the next five or six days can yield all the moisture but cause no damage.
On Weds we spent our usual time at the beaches and finally got to one of our faves after talking to a guard/hard-hat guy who let us go thru the cones/barriers. The road has been closed since the Jan 9-10 storms. Washed out; buried under water/mud. The guy said, now or never, that he’d let us get thru for a looksee, because they’re soon to start construction on a bridge that washed out, so it was so nice to get a glimpse of the vacant, isolated beach before we go another few months when we can’t get in there again; but, man, it was COLD, windy, high tide with big waves and a lot of whitecaps at sea; angry ocean. Just couldn’t get out of the car except to let the pooch out to pee. Those pods of pelicans kept close as a group, flying low, but the seagulls really seemed to struggle against the wind, poor guys. We’re 38 degrees right now at the 4am hour. Brrr. Remember, we Southern Californians aren’t used to this!
Weather is wild everywhere in the States, isn’t it? Wish you could get YOUR snow!
My natural gas/heating bill is killing me each month; running over $300; but everybody here is complaining of the costs. We’ve never seen such prices. (Natural gas is usually pretty cheap heating. If I ever had a monthly bill of $100, I would have been shocked in any other year. And we turn the thermostat ‘way, ‘way down at night as it is [to where the furnace simply doesn’t come on until we dial it up upon waking in the morning].) It truly is the coldest ‘winter’ I can remember in a long time, though. It’s been mostly cold since December, just a stray warmer day here and there. I just wonder though, too, at the old(er) age I am now, that I feel the cold more, but who knows. I’ve been wearing double layers of clothing, something I never do. And I’ve resorted to using a heating pad/warmer on my feet in the evenings.
Thanks for showing us your latest adoptee; she’s a cutie. When you’re collecting and are seeing a lot of dolls/ideas out there in the collecting world, it’s so hard to resist the ones you fall in love with; I know what that is, because I’ve gone thru it with another brand of dolls in my past. I still have them all and know I need to sell some, yet I collected them carefully and thoughtfully for a reason and I love ’em. It’s especially nice that Don is supportive of your new acquisitions; ‘what if’ it was the other way and he was instead giving you a hard time about it? I know a gal who collects this & that and her husband is NOT supportive or encouraging, often saying derisively to her, “Why do you need that?” It kills the joy of the collecting! Thing is, Don knows you don’t do anything rash and that you’re a conscientious, knowledgeable collector.
I’m really only going to change out her body so I can pose her more easily. I think the pink hair will stay.
You have quite the weather event ahead, Vicki! I will be thinking of you and everyone in that area. Our heating bills are ridiculous, as well, and there are investigations going on into Central Hudson’s billing policies. Plus, we have to pay for heating oil, which is also off the charts.
I don’t know if I could be with someone who didn’t support my collections. Don does, thank goodness. Of course, pottery and china and egg cups are one thing, dolls are another! But he really loves them.
Thanks so much, Vicki.
Stay safe.