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Another Big Bite

Another Big Bite

Tag Archives: American girl dolls

A Tiny Little Labor of Love

31 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by anotherbigbite in I'm a Crafty Mo' Fo', The Good Ole Days

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

American girl dolls, grandma, kirsten, miniatures, polymer clay

Very rarely, someone does something for you that is so significant, so awesome; so unexpected that you can’t just send them a thank you card and flowers.  You need a way bigger THANK YOU.

Or a way teeny-tinier “thank you.”

photo 4 (3)

This is my Grandma Mary.  She’s the bees knees.  She’s the lady in need of a way better “thank you.”

A little bit of a back story…  If you’ve been following along, you might remember that my grandmother, THIS grandmother, spent months making every stitch of clothing and hunting down accessories to accompany the greatest Christmas present I ever received when I was ten; Molly, my American Girl doll.  She didn’t just get me a doll and an entire wardrobe; she got/made THREE of them – one for each of her granddaughters.

Oh, god… Is EVERYTHING about American Girl dolls these days?  Even I need a break.

Grandma Mary was sort-of synonymous with dolls for me as a child; she had an entire room filled with them (the “Pink Room,”), spent lots of time restoring ones from her own childhood and introduced us chickadees to American Girl dolls.  I vividly remember sitting in the backseat of her car pouring over the first AG catalogue on a road trip to Iowa with her.  I must have been five.

Grandma is also Danish – which is definitely not Swedish like Kirsten, one of the original AG dolls, but it was close enough that my grandmother was partial to her…  Kirsten had an adorable little Saint Lucia outfit for Christmas; and Grandma had made her own Saint Lucia doll, modeled after Kirsten’s dress.  As a kid, I would fantasize about dressing up in a white nightgown and walking around with a wreath and blazing candles on my head.  My parents never would have lit anything I placed on my head on fire (intentionally)…  I always identified with Molly, the creative, slightly nerdy girl with glasses, but Grandma Mary?  She was totally a Kirsten.

After a legendary act of generosity this month, I was completely befuddled on how to thank my grandmother.  I was also on my way back from a birthday excursion to the American Girl Store when it hit me.  Grandma Mary needs an American Girl doll, too!!  She needs to have Kirsten!  This was a ridiculous idea because my grandmother is a grown woman; what is she going to do with a giant doll?  (Let’s ignore the fact that I had just lost my marbles when Nathan told me we were on our way to get a doll for my birthday.)  Also, they don’t make Kirsten anymore.  She was retired years ago, and you can’t just get someone ANY American Girl doll.  You have to get them their American Girl doll.

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But they do make all of the dolls in miniature, six-inch versions.  So we got Mini Kirsten.  Which is cute, but still kind of “thanks-for-buying-me-something”ish.  Mini Kirsten needed a mini Saint Lucia outfit.  And while I was at it, her mini accessories and a mini trunk to put her in.  Just like the big Kirsten had.  And so I set about trolling Hobby Lobby, Michaels and Joann Fabrics for supplies.  Which was a blast.  Then I set about cursing my will to live as I struggled with the teeny, tiny bonnet.  But after that was done, the rest was cake.

Just shoot me if Alice ever gets into Barbies.

Just shoot me if Alice ever gets into Barbies.

Let us play "Which One Doesnt Belong Here."  Two Christmas buns, a candle holder, heart bead, and an interesting monster head.  Humm...

Let us play “Which One Doesnt Belong Here.” Two Christmas buns, a candle holder, heart bead, and an interesting monster head. Humm…

I even got to break out the old polymer clay.  I have had it packed away for almost a decade, and I am way out of practice.  I found some interesting little project that had never been baked when I cracked it open – clearly the mighty have fallen.  Apparently I had gotten pretty good – although I’m not sure what kind of mood I must have been in to create that weird little head a decade ago.

photo 1 (8)photo 2 (8)

The trunk was my favorite part.  I found the perfect sized wooden box, glued on some tiny feet, took off the hardware, filled the holes, sanded and painted the whole shebang about three times and painted little flowers on it.  I am not a painter, my mom is.  It is a far cry from the tole painted chest that Kirsten came with.  This is not my strong suit.  Obviously.

photo 4 (4)

I packed her up and sent her off to Grandma Mary.  There was a little bit of a warm fuzzy in my heart when I realized my grandmother had done this same thing for me two decades ago (albeit on a much larger and more impressive scale).  Full circle.

I realize that this post might seem a little bit of “Oh! Look at me and see how awesome I am for spending all this time one something for someone else!  Aren’t I thoughtful?”  Yes, it was a lot of work.  But I wanted y’all to understand just how rad Grandma Mary is; and when you have someone in your life who is that special, you are well within your rights to go a little bit overboard.  Even if it is on an itty-bitty something that will probably live in a drawer and is of zero productive use to anyone.

Cheers to you, Grandma Mary!  (And thanks for playing the Grandma part well and telling me that you “love it.”)  Rock on with your bad self.

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It’s My [Imaginary Birthday] Party and I’ll Plan If I Want To

10 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by anotherbigbite in Nerd Alert, Party Hearty

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

American girl dolls, birthday, birthday parties, casablanca, disney world, dork, geek, golden oak, harry potter

Today I ring in the 32nd anniversary of my birth.  Yikes.  Those candles really pile up fast, don’t they?

Last year, I decided to make a guest list for the greatest (imaginary) birthday party EVER.  It was good to flex my inner geek muscles.  The guest list is just a part of the whole attraction; parties themselves are super fun to plan.  It is the actual doing; setting up, cooking, cleaning and stress of the event that sucks the fun out of it all.  Which is why I am allowing my imagination to run wild and indulging my inner child-diva today; this is what the party of my dreams would look like – if money, time, logic and the spacetime continuum were no object.

Oh, and if you are reading this, you must be just as cool as I am, and are therefore invited to my hip soiree.  You are so welcome.

We’ll call it Geek-a-palooza, and we’ll all wear matching t-shirts to commemorate the event.

Way back in Chi-town, there is this pretty rad theatre; Hollywood Boulevard; each of the theatres are themed, and the best one is the Coconut Grove.  The whole place is set to look like the streets of Casablanca from the greatest movie of all time, Casablanca, complete with Rick’s Cafe.  Even Nathan will watch it with me (again), and ahhh – it is magical.  If you’ve never seen the movie, never fear – we are all going to have our very own private screening at the party.

But having the birthday party to end all birthday parties in Woodridge, Illinois is pretty lame.  No matter.  I’m transporting the entire theatre to The Magic Kingdom in Disney World.  It will be plunked right under Cinderella’s Castle, and afterwards, you can ride Space Mountain until you puke up your cake and ice cream.

But not just any cake.  A giant, Hogwarts-shaped cake.

Rupert Grint is included.

Before we tear into the cake (I call Gryffindor Tower!!), we’ll dine on buttered scallops baked in tomato-apple cous cous from the best restaurant on earth; Meson Sabika.  After that wonderful appetizer, I’m eating an entire plate of curry chicken from Picabu Bistro; I’ll wash it all down with a Shirley Temple (extra cherries and a splash of orange juice) and eat my weight in Dole Whip.

Florence + The Machine and The Killers will keep us entertained with a special guest appearance by Mumford and Sons who will perform a rousing banjo-riffic rendition of Michael Jackson’s Thriller (hey, it could be awesome).

If you didn’t think I was an enormous geek before, there is no doubt that you do now.

As for favors, I’m commissioning custom American Girl Dolls to look like all the guest’s favorite Harry Potter characters.  I heard George Clooney is pretty partial to Hermione… (Now, hey – everyone loves Harry Potter and American Girl Dolls as much as I do; it is my fantasy after all.)  My three brothers will be beside themselves as they accept their Wesley brother dolls, and Alice will get the complete set – which will hardly fit into her room…

That’s alright, though.  Because Nathan has bought me a beautiful, palatial estate in Golden Oak for my birthday present; it is Disney’s community of single family homes that come complete with a resident pass to the parks.  I’m sure Alice will be able to find room to house all her new dolls somewhere in its 5,000 square feet. (Might as well shoot for the moon, right?)

Yeah, that’ll do.

At the end of the night, we’ll all gather around the castle and watch the biggest firework show that ever was.  When the finale is over, I’ll retire to the Cinderella Suite upstairs and dream of the most fantastical, amazing party there ever was.

Sigh.

It would be wonderful, wouldn’t it?  What is more likely to happen is this; I’ll take the kids out to lunch and maybe even the zoo, and I might even get lucky and get to eat someplace fancier than Panera Bread for dinner.  I’ll open a card from Nathan, put the kids to bed and head downstairs to have a little me time at the sewing machine.  Afterwards, I’ll snuggle up in bed and watch the last episode of Game of Thrones (Oh, the Red Wedding – WHHHYYYY???  The agony!) and drift off to sleep.

Another year down.

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Yet Another Hospital Visit

01 Friday Mar 2013

Posted by anotherbigbite in Nerd Alert, The "Joy" of Parenting, The Good Ole Days

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Tags

alice, American girl dolls, baby dolls, bitty baby, doll hospital, finn, motherhood, parenting

Never fear, the kids are just fine. We had another member of the family in the hospital this time. She is a small yet beloved addition to our traveling circus… She’s been with me for more than twenty years.

Bitty Baby.

Specifically, my American Girl baby doll, way before they were called Bitty Baby. I was little, albeit a little old for a baby doll, but when I was ten, my grandparents got me my first American Girl doll; this one, and I was flippin’ ecstatic. I named her Victoria and loved her to pieces.

When I found out Alice was a girl, we hauled the baby out of storage and waited for the little lady to arrive. Finn would dress the doll, feed her, throw her down the stairs; it was great practice for an impending little sister.

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Alice was only two weeks old when my in-laws got her a Bitty Baby of her own; making her a proud new mother of two. Both the dolls are identical save the color of their hair, Alice’s baby has dark hair, just like she did as a newborn.  Right when she got it, Nathan, my mother-in-law, father-in-law and I all had moments of panic thinking that the doll was Alice…

“Christ!  Alice is going to roll off the dining room table!!”  Nevermind the fact that it didn’t make any sense whatsoever for the real Alice to be laying, unattended, among the rest of the Christmas presents on the table.

IMG_1152

As soon as Alice was big enough to crawl, she started hauling these dolls around the house like they are actual babies… It makes you wonder about gender roles and all that; she is inexplicably smitten with dolls. We cruise past the doll aisle in Target and she actually screams while reaching out as far as she can. It is hilarious and terrifying all at once.

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A few weeks ago, we noticed that my old baby doll was giving us the stink eye. It was a little creepy.

photo 1 (18)

I called American Girl and they told me this strange little defect was something they could fix, just bring her on in and she’ll be sent to the Doll Hospital. My inner ten-year-old did a mental pirouette. I was no stranger to the Doll Hospital; when I was twelve, I seriously considered ripping off one of my doll’s arms just so she could return from her stint in rehab with a real hospital gown and a “Get Well Soon” balloon. No worries; my self-control prevailed, and Molly McIntire remains hospital-visit-free to this day.

But Bitty Baby didn’t fare as well. We took her in and two weeks later, a package was sitting on the porch when we pulled up to the house today. I’m not even sure if the car stopped moving before I jumped out.

And she’s good as new! She came all packaged in a nice new box and came in a tiny hospital gown and a hat.  And a teeny greeting card from an American Girl doll.  Ohmygoodness.  Adorbs.

photo 2 (16)photo 3 (15)

I was lucky enough that American Girl footed the bill since it was a “factory defect;” I’m not sure what my co-pay would have been, but I’m sure all the extra pomp and circumstance doesn’t come cheap.

As for Alice, she made do with her own baby while Victoria (how early-nineties is that name, by the way?) was away.  Now she’s back in Alice’s arms and ready for a little extra post-op snuggle.

photo 4 (11)

Now that I think back on it, I totally should have dismembered Molly.  Back then, someone else would have paid for it, and I want that damn hospital gown and balloon. This whole experience is dragging all those childhood memories to the surface again…  American Girl must have taken a page out of the Disney parks rulebook with all the extra little niceties they give you.  Keeps you coming back for more.  Or, your credit card coming back for more…

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