Hello Kitty!

Armand Marseilles Doll

We kidnapped Mariann on Saturday and took her to the Enchanted Doll shop in old Fort Worth. It was a short adventure -- the ladies had never seen Asian BJDs "in the flesh," so they got a quick tutorial in how very different these dolls are. Peggy reminded us that the antique European dolls did have strung joints -- I've only seen them once at a show in Waxahacie. The smaller show here in Dallas had antique items, but no Armande Marseilles dolls ... As you can see, this lovely is awaiting restoration -- but she has the joints, wig, and set-in eyes that shared by Asian BJDs. The "American Girl" and other vinyl dolls are based on this model -- the 6-10 year-old little girl (and occasionally boy), about 18-24" tall. I suppose if you wanted to dress this doll in modern clothes -- a mistake since she's a real antique -- you could use the Simplicity or McCall patterns for the AG dolls. Personally, I prefer the Asian BJD look -- plus, there's a wider range of "looks" that these dolls can adapt. After all, I've never seen an elf vampire doll from the 19th or early 20th century.

While at the shop, we met a lady & her husband who are from the Irving Doll Club. She's presenting a talk on the vinyl dolls of the 1960s -- shades of my Chatty Cathy doll! -- and was looking for representative pieces ... Her husband, Mar and I discussed the club; it turns out that we ARE acquainted with some members; the Irving librarians who sell items at the cons are also members of the club ... and there may be others that we've seen at local "doll meets." We were reminded that some folks do not take kindly to the influx of Asian BJDs into the club. They argue that the dolls are not "collectibles" ... well, they should check out eBay and the conventions. The people who buy BJDs (of any sort) discover that the dolls like new clothes -- and new companions. Perhaps they mean that the Asian dolls may not accrue market value. Still, who knew that the Barbies whose pony tails were butchered in 1961 would be worth hundreds of dollars in 2010?

We took a leisurely drive northward on Highway 161 to return to Carrollton ... It cuts through the wooded suburbs that used to the farmland, and I spotted way too many "ticky-tacky houses that all look just the same." It's quite different watching the road as a passenger/ navigator instead of the driver. I remember when I-20 cut through the same area, totally empty of people and malls ... I'm not sure that we could do the drive to Arlington and back to Dallas in the same time that we did back in the 80s ... and I still miss the mini-Stonehenge that marked the spot where the "Scottish Highlands" subdivision is today.

Once ensconced at Mar's house, we watched Supernatural Season 2. When Mar confessed that she saw the cliffhanger ending for the season and rushed out to buy the (overpriced) DVD so she could continue watching, we had to tease her ... "You're not a fan, huh? You're in denial, you know." She confessed that was the case; worse, she was planning to "rip" images in order to have art scrap to draw ... I'm sure she'll be searching fanfic.net to find more stories about the Winchester boys. Just no slash, Mar. When writers put family members into scenes in which they have sex with one another, it pushes my "ick factor" to the max. And, yes, it's been done before -- the title "Hop on Pop" takes on new meaning when a slash author uses it.

School started last Monday ... the different schedule will take some getting used to. My feet hurt most of Saturday, and my back still isn't happy. Core teachers have 6 classes, plus an enrichment class, which makes 6 1/2 classes. Monday -- C-day -- we meet with all classes, for a grand total of about 150 kids; on A-days -- Tuesday & Thursday -- I meet 3 classes with about 50 kids, plus my 25 enrichment kids; but on B-days -- Wednesday & Friday -- I meet 3 classes with 80+ kids and the 25 enrichment kids ... They claim that they'll try to level classes so my numbers are more equally distributed, but I've worked in the district long enough to know that they look at the overall numbers. As long as they're at 150, then nothing will get done ... except that my department chair AND the 10th grade house mother walked into my 2 biggest classes, when we're wall-to-wall people ... so, we'll see.

Dance Quote: "Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in high heels." ~Faith Whittlesey