Barbie

Sometimes I love being a DINK (dual income, no kids). I can buy toys for me! So I bought myself a Barbie. Well, actually two and it's all because of monkeys. My husband likes monkeys so he was naturally drawn to the www.PaulFrank.com Julius monkey that's popped up on hip clothing and accessories over the last few years. I happened to snag a few yards of the actual Julius-printed flannel fabric and made him a pair of sleep pants. He loves them. I had just enough extra to make a pillow case for a small travel pillow.

Then I saw a blurb in the newspaper about this new Barbie:


Tiny monkey pajamas!

How could I not get this. I rationalized that I could make tiny clothes for her and then I decided if one was fun, two would be better. So I bought this:


Strike a pose!

She's sort of a Barbie but not the garden variety toy for little girls. This one is made of something they call "Modelmuse" and she's apparently more poseable. She also has a bit of a different figure. I will have to alter the patterns for her. Great. I have a enough trouble altering my clothing patterns and now I'm going to alter tiny doll ones? At least I don't have to worry about her gaining weight and not being able to fit into the clothes I make.

Oh, and there's more. There was an additional offer of a tiny clothes rack with hangers when you spent $75 (ahem, I said these are not your garden variety little girl's dolls), which was another reason I thought "monkey Barbie" needed a girlfriend.

Such fun! I played Barbies for hours on end when I was growing up. I would spend all day setting up an elaborate house for Barbie on my bed only to have to dismantle it so I could go to sleep at night. Kleenex worked well as sheets. My transistor radio stood in as the Hi-Fi. I was always on the lookout for Barbie-sized items for her house and made many things out of paper, Play-Doh and other materials. And of course I sewed clothes for Barbie. Awful looking things, I have to admit. My sewing skills didn't go much beyond a running stitch on scraps of fabric. I didn't know the concept of a dart but clearly Barbie needed one. I just folded the fabric and stitched - the fold ended up on the outside but I didn't know any better.

At one point I had a huge family of dolls consisting of many Barbies, Kens, Francies, Skippers, Tuttis and "Little Kiddles." Unfortunately I didn't realize they weren't all "mine." One day, while I was in college, my older sister took back the ones that were hers. She later gave them away to a neighbor girl. Can you tell I'm still bitter? I was left with a Malibu Barbie whose hair I melted with the hair dryer, another Barbie with wirey blonde hair that you were supposed to be able to style, a 70's era Skipper (my sister took her much cooler Skipper and Ricky), a mod Ken doll with a waist that pivots (he's supposed to dance on a stage that got thrown out long ago when the batteries corroded inside), and a Tutti and some Kiddles with wild hair. All the dolls are well worn from being played with and bathed countless times. They also got a bit damaged after years of being packed away in my parent's attic. They melted. Not into a pile of molten plastic, but some of them have flattened spots where they melted to other plastic things or dolls stored with them or even to their own appendages (the legs to the butts). But there's no loss of potential eBay revenue, as it seems that the market is quite swamped and prices are not very high for ordinary dolls and certainly not for well-played with dolls. There are high priced dolls being auctioned but there are also a lot with no bids at all.

I had considered buying two Paul Frank dolls to sell one later on eBay, but I'm not interested in doing all that work (and not to mention storing the darn thing) for $20 profit. I'm not even going to check eBay to see if it ends up being a hot item. I'm just going to enjoy my new dolls and dress them up in little outfits (like I have time to sew for Barbie???). What about the old ones? They're packed away with what's left of their store bought and hand-sewn outfits and accessories. They're so play-worn that it would just be a reminder of my childhood and not a fashion doll for me to dress. They'll understand. AAARGH, they're inanimate dolls for goodness sakes. I shouldn't feel guilty that I bought new dolls! Besides, I'd much rather post a picture of a beautiful dress I've sewn on a doll with un-melted hair and limbs.

Can't wait for them to show up. It'll be like Christmas.