some recent acquisitions

On a happier note.

Wesley Center board meeting was this afternoon. I REALLY like our local director. I don't *think* that's just me, but there are some people that I just immediately feel comfortable around (this is not always true of me and people!) and Kartika is one of those people who just gives off such personal warmth and welcome that I do feel comfortable around her. I pretty much liked her the minute I met her.

Anyway, she had a bag of what are called "Joy Bears" that one of the churches in our region makes for people (they sew them up and stuff them, and pray over them, and the idea is they're given out to people going through a hard time - kind of like a simpler and faster version of the prayer shawls that were a thing some years back).

Anyway, she knew I had lost my dad over the summer, and knew a bit of the other stuff I was dealing with.

So now I have a Joy Bear.



She grabbed that one out of a bag of about six for me, and I think she understands me pretty well because I think she chose the fabric pattern I'd have chosen based on the other ones I saw.

I think I am going to take the bear over to my office, to hang out with Bunny. The bear will also make a good pillow for my chair - it doesn't have the best lumbar support and having a pillow in the small of my back sometimes might help.

***

And a couple things I bought. Here are the little Equestria Girls dolls from the Five Below. (They were about $4 a piece, which is a lot less than what Amazon had them for):

Roseluck, Bon Bon/Sweetie Drops, and Muffins (Derpy)



They're dressed for their "after school jobs" - Derpy works at a muffin shop (of course), Sweetie Drops sells candy, and Roseluck is a gardener. I think of all three I like Roseluck's design best, and I also like her color scheme best. (And if I were picking an after school job, I think I'd pick hers)

Also, my Creatable World doll arrived. This doll has gotten a LOT of press - depending on the bias/attitude of the particular media outlet, they're either being heralded as striking a blow for equality, seeing as they can be non-binary/genderfluid/however you prefer calling it or they are being mocked as either "Mattel is making a big thing out of this to attract attention" or, well, you can imagine the other kinds of mockery.

Then again: it's nice to have a doll whose hair you can change out if you want - they come with rooted short hair, and then a long wig you can put over the short hair.

I immediately decided my doll was a girl, and her name is Skye:



The doll's feet are proportionally very large (bigger than Curvy Barbie feet, and these dolls are closer to Skipper in height than they are to Barbie). But that means the doll will stand on her own. I put Skye here in some of the clothing pieces that come with the kit: very 1980s style paint-spattered overalls, and a shiny shirt, and the workboots. There are a lot of clothes that come - a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt and a skirt and a zip-front jacket and three pairs of shoes and a hat and a tote bag and sunglasses. And the "underwear" is very plain - black boyshorts and a black tank top, which could also be worn as outerwear. (You do have to take them off to get the other clothes to fit right).

Skye can wear some Barbie clothes, but they are loose on her:



I rather like the Hello Kitty dress on her; I have some other ridiculous cartoon-character themed clothes that might work on her as well.

And yeah, I think she is Sam's younger sister, they have a similar skintone:



I'm still figuring out Skye's backstory. I think she's probably kind of shy, maybe she likes making art?

I might buy another one of these dolls (despite a rather spendy price point) because there are no other shoes that fit the dolls, and I would like more shoes. I might get the "copper hair" one, I like that one. Or get the Asian one and keep that one as a boy (and then Skye can have the "girl clothes" from that set). Or maybe I hold off and buy the dark-skinned doll that comes with the long wavy wig (the one currently out has braids) because I am a sucker for long wavy hair on a doll.

The dolls' faces remind me a bit of the old Sasha dolls from the 1970s (though those were, IIRC, 18" tall dolls) - very neutral expressions and the face is maybe a little wider than the typical "little girl doll" face. 

One more; here she is on a Super Mario themed dress (and the jacket has Mario characters on the back) and the pink shoes that came in her set: