More Dolls

First to answer Debby's question: The Madame Alexander dolls are 7 1/2 inches tall. I think that's part of why they are so cute, they are so small! 

There are a few other dolls that I have stored away with my Madame Alexander dolls.

This is a Cheerful Tearful doll like one I got for Christmas when I was 6 years old.

What's cute is when her left arm is raised, she's smiling

and when you lower her arm, she frowns and cries! 

And if you feed her water with her bottle, tears would come out of her eyes too!

This is actually not my original doll. I got it off of eBay years ago when I was going through a childhood nostalgic phase! 

My original Cheerful Tearful doll was probably destroyed by my brothers!

I loved my doll so much! I distinctly remember hugging her and thanking Santa with all my heart! 

These are my two Barbies. 

I only have one dress so I had to wrap the one on the right in a little piece of cloth. 

I played endlessly with these dolls. I built them furniture out of cardboard and made dresses for them out of scraps of cloth and tape! 

This doll is particularly special. 

A tradition in my dad's family was whenever someone got married my aunt made a doll with a replica of their wedding dress to display at the wedding shower. I showed you my mom's wedding dress a while ago. This is the doll that was at my mom's wedding shower. The dress is a close replica of her dress. 

So that's my doll collection. They all mean a lot to me.

That's all in my world right now. I finished physical therapy last week thank goodness! I was so done with it! I also had an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon, and he said I'm ahead of the game now and usually he would want to see me at the 6-month mark, but I'm doing so well that I don't have to go back! All my diligence and hard work is paying off! 

I'll see you the next time and thanks for stopping by!  

Dolls

Recently I posted a picture of a bunch of Madame Alexander dolls displayed on a lawn and I mentioned that I had about 12 of them but I actually have 14. 

Madame Alexander dolls were International Dolls and also dolls from stories like Little Women and such. I only have International Dolls. 

My grandmother gave them to me for my birthday and Christmas every year for 7 years. She stopped when I turned 18 and they got too expensive for her to buy anymore. 

The first one she gave me when I was 10 years old was this one:

Betsy Ross or the American doll. Isn't she cute? I love that they all have the sweetest faces. 

The second one she gave me was, of course, the Italian doll. 

Besides those, a couple were my favorite like the India doll.

She has a gold necklace, earrings and a snake bracelet! 

I also loved the Spanish doll. 

She had a red and green beaded necklace which you can't really see in the photo and I loved the way her dress was longer in the back. 

Here's the rest in no particular order. Actually I don't remember what order she gave them to me. I know the ones that I got when I was a little older still have their tags on them. The earlier ones I got when I was younger I played with sometimes! 

This is Ireland and Poland

The Ireland doll has red hair and beautiful green eyes!

This is Czech and Indonesia.

Canada and Japan

Dutch and Norway

And although it's not obvious, the Dutch doll does not have any legs! I have no idea what happened. I guess I played a lot with her! It's too bad because if I recall she had a little pair of wooden shoes! 

Argentina and Korea

I loved Argentinas beautiful long braids. 

That's all of them. I have a few more dolls that I found in the same storage tote as these that I will show you on my next post.

I don't know what will become of them after I'm gone. I'm not sure Shauna wants them and there is no granddaughter to leave them to. 

If she doesn't want them, I may find somewhere to donate them where some little girl would appreciate them. They are not worth anything moneywise.  

Thats it for now. See you the next time and thanks for stopping by! 

Phone Photo Dump

It's time to purge my phone of some photos for you all to enjoy!

The other day while walking past the retention pond in our community all the geese in the water were honking like crazy! When I looked to see what was causing all the commotion, I saw this beauty flying overhead. 

He circled the pond a few times and then flew off. I got a pretty good video and this blurry picture is taken from that. It's a rare sight to see an eagle around here so I was pretty excited!

On the nights that I work when I leave at 8:00 I always turn and scan the field next door with the car headlights. 

There is almost always deer there and I caught these two just chilling and enjoying the evening! 

I know this is a little hard to see but this is a display in front of an old house in DT Plymouth. 

In case you can't tell it's a bunch of Madame Alexander dolls. I thought it was pretty unusual. 

I have about 12 Madam Alexander dolls that my paternal grandmother gave me. I used to get one for Christmas and one for my birthday until I turned 18. Then she stopped giving them to me. They were getting too expensive for her anyway. She made sure I knew that! 

I should do a separate post on her. She was a hoot! 

I don't think they are worth much anymore, anyway. I guess not if they get displayed on a front lawn! 

Rich and I were at BJ's warehouse the other day and their inventory robot was going around. 

It makes a funny little tone that sounds like it's saying, "excuse me". 

My shoulder feels pretty good. So good that I made the mistake of carrying a large purse on it for a day and ended up making it hurt more then it already was! I was scared I did some damage but my physical therapist checked it out and said I just irritated it! Back on the inflammatory medicine I went and it is slowly getting better! 

A local funeral home donated some flowers and plants for our residents to enjoy. We kept the flowers but the executive director did not want all the plants around so she told us anyone who wants one can take it. 

I snagged this peace lily. Looks how giant it is! 

We had my brother and sister-in-law for lunch yesterday. We wanted to say goodbye as they've become snowbirds and are heading to Myrtle Beach SC for the next 6 months. Lucky them! 

That's all for me for now. See you the next time and thanks for stopping by!

Little Getaway

 Last week Rich and I took a little getaway to Traverse City. 

I took a few pictures on the way up of the trees. 

Only about half the trees were changed but they were pretty. 

The weather was sunny and not super cold but the wind was crazy! I usually like to walk along the beach and browse the stores in Downtown TC. Because it was so windy walking on the beach was out of the question, so we browsed a few blocks of stores downtown then went to dinner and back to the hotel to swim and use the hot tub. 

The next day we decided to go to Sleeping Bear Dunes. We hadn't been since the kids were little. 

Our first stop was the Dune Climb. 

It's a big climb and at the top you see more dunes and Lake Michigan in the distance. We opted not to climb it this time but there were quite a few people who did.

Next we wanted to drive the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive along the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Because it is a National Park it cost us $25 to drive it but it was so worth the money! 

There was a bunch of places to stop and see the beauty along the way. 

This covered bridge was so pretty with the sun and shadows on it. 

Another place to stop was this view of Glen Lake and Lake Michigan. 

Driving along the winding road takes you higher and higher along the dunes until you reach the top. We parked our car and walked up a small sandy incline to see this sign. 

 

Because on the other side is this drop. If you go down and can't get yourself back up it's going to cost you. When we were there only two people were brave enough to go down to the lake. 

See the two people climbing back up in the picture below? A guy and a girl and the girl was way ahead of the guy! 

The picture shows how steep the dune was! The girl made it to the top while we were watching. 

Everyone clapped and cheered for her when she got to the top. Here she is in the purple shirt resting! I heard her mom say, "Thanks for saving me $3,000!" 

The guy was way behind and you could not even see him yet over the top of the dunes. We didn't stay to watch him and he could still be there for all we know! 

Note to Mari: We tried to see the Little Mac bridge in Manistee on the way back south but it was closed! 

It was a nice to get away for a few days. 

In other news: I had a follow up appointment with the orthopedic surgeon on my shoulder and healing is progressing exactly as it's supposed to be. He figures by the end of the year my range of motion and movement should be 100%. It's a long road! I'm still getting physical therapy twice a week, but I only have one week left and then I'll just do the home exercises. 

Oh and the fall decorations are up at work

I think it looks so pretty! 

That's all for me for now. See you the next time and thanks for stopping by! 

6 1/2 Weeks and Two-handed Typing

It's been 6 1/2 weeks since my shoulder surgery and things are going really well! 

At my 3 week follow up the doc told me that it was 50% healed and would be 100% healed after 6 weeks. 

I told him I was concerned about re-tearing it but he said at that point it would take something catastrophic like a car accident or a fall down the stairs! Yikes! 

None of that happened 😁so I was able to stop wearing the arm brace after 6 weeks and it was none too soon! That thing was hot and itchy and I was totally over it! 

My shoulder is still pretty sore and my range of motion is a little limited but physical therapy is going great and helping a lot! I should only have a few weeks left!

It's so nice to hit milestones like being able to put my hair in a ponytail and put deodorant on my left armpit again! 

Speaking of my putting my hair in a ponytail, Rich was doing it for me by using the vacuum cleaner hose. He would wrap the band around the end of the hose, suck my hair into it and then roll the band off the hose onto my hair! LOL! Sounds crazy but it worked really good! 

I went back to work after 3 weeks because I was going stir crazy at home. They were so glad to have me back and I missed all the residents! 

Rich and I had to get new passports because our old ones expired two years ago, and we are going on a cruise in January. 

I call these photos our mugshots! 

We went to a fundraiser walk at the Detroit Zoo. 

It was fun to walk around with the boys although it was pretty warm out and the animals were barely active! 

And our Levi turned 6 years old on the 27th. Gosh, time sure flies by!

His party was at a skating rink. 

Here he is helping his little friend skate! 

I got this picture of this little sparrow drinking from our hummingbird feeder. 

He kept coming back for more! He was loving that sweet water! 

We are going to take a little trip up north next weekend. Just for a few days but it will be nice to get away! I'll tell you all about it when we get back. 

That's pretty much all that's going on right now. 

See you the next time and thanks for stopping by! 

I'm back (For a second anyway)

 Hey all! I'm back for a quick second just to say hi and that I have missed you all!

This will be short because I am typing one handed which is such a hassle!

We took a nice family vacation to Lewiston MI where Brad's cousin owns an Airbnb on a lake. Lewiston is a small town in the middle of nowhere so there was not a lot to do! But we had jet skis and a pontoon at our disposal so we had lots of fun!

Then, on August 15th I had rotator cuff repair surgery on my right shoulder. I really didn't have any choice if I wanted to have full use of my right arm for the rest of my life (which I do!) I researched it and listened to everyone's horror stories so i would be prepared for the worst and...........

it hasn't been that bad! I only took oxycodon for the first 3 days and then I was able to control what little pain I have with acetaminophen and ibuprophen and I'll probably stop them in the next few days. 

I've already had two physical therapy sessions and will be going twice a week for at least the next 8 weeks then we'll see after that. Plus I have home exercises I do a few times a day.

THIS is the biggest pain right now

I pretty much have to wear this 24/7! I hate it and have 5 weeks left to go with it! When I have my follow up with the surgeon on Sept 4th they may remove the pillow which will make it a little more tolerable but I can't wait to get it off for good!

I can't finish this post without mentioning that Rich has been the best caregiver I could have but I knew he would be!

So that's my world right now. I'm going to be visiting everyone again soon but my commenting will be limited because you know..the one hand typing thing!

I'll be back when I can type two handed but, in the meantime, take care and thanks for stopping by!

Phone Dump and a Break

 

Here's some random photos from my phone. 

This is a throwback photo from 4th of July 2021. I miss them being that little!

This year Shauna wanted to repeat this photo only Maxwell wouldn't wear the stars and stripes tank top she got him!

This is my friend from where I work. She's 99 years old! 

Here she is with her first great-grandchild! I took this picture off of her phone. 

Note: I thought she was the oldest resident we have but I was wrong. We have a gentleman who is 101! 

We went to the Independence Day parade downtown and this was a new feature. 

A giant Uncle Sam float! 

I see this shed when I walk in our park.

I think the window-look planters are very pretty! 

Well, that's going to be it for me for a while. I saw an orthopedic surgeon last week for my arm and I am getting physical therapy for the next 4 weeks. 

After that we'll see how it goes. I'm just getting through day by day right now. 

We have a family vacation planned at the end of this month. 

So for the first time since I started this blog, I am going to take a break for a while. I'm going to do my best to visit you all at least one more time and then I'll be back in a few months! 

You guys take care and enjoy the rest of the summer!