The other day I was describing this little metal dollhouse I had as a kid to the girlies... it was my dream house for the better part of my younger childhood days. In fact there was a house down the street from us that looked kinda like it, and I befriended the boy that lived there, just so I could see inside.... I wanted to show them what it looked like so I went to the site where all old toys go... ebay... and look what I found when I typed in "vintage metal dollhouse"...
There it is... mine had a garage, but it's basically the same...
Just look inside...
accent walls... built in bookcases...
I wonder how much of my design aesthetic cane from this little tin box...
It had this little molded plastic furniture...
I loved this little dollhouse and if it wasn't $100 on ebay I'd buy it....
Guess what else I found....
Holly Hobby... I had this one and I loved her...
Then I found out my mom has been lying to me since I was 4!
I'd asked for the Weebles Tree House for Christmas and so I looked it up....
It didn't look familiar...
Then I found this...
"Family" Tree House???
I called my mom this morning,
and she confirmed that this one was the one Santa brought...
The store was sold out and this was all she found...
"But mine had Weebles... I said."
"No..it didn't, I just fished the Weebles you already had out of the toy box and threw away the people that came with it and posed your Weebles in it..."
(My whole childhood is a lie...)
Then I found this...
My Sit & Spin... I would sit and spin for hours...
Those little ball bearings going around... and around.. and around...
and one day I came home from school and it was gone...
My mother claims to this day to have no knowledge of this mystery..
but this morning that denial came with a chuckle....
And looky here...
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My Friend Mandy!
I loved mine!
I almost bid on this one...
And look my first Barbie Doll...
I got her and the dream house vanity for my 7th Birthday...
Here's the vanity...
Then for Christmas that year I got the "Dream House"...not...
I got this "Townhouse" instead...
Remember the elevator on a string?
I was sure Santa needed reading glasses...
My mom informed me today that the "dream House" cost $100
and the "Townhouse" was $40...
Ahhhh...
Santa wasn't blind... he was cheap!
(Kidding Mom...)
How about this one...
A few years later I begged for it...
Once all the pages were used up, my brother and I never touched this toy again...
But I begged for it...
I had to have it...
But that's ok..because that year I got this...
and this...
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This year Santa finally figured it out...
My older brother got this...
I wanted to try it so bad...
He refused...
It didn't work as well when a few weeks later I pried out the little screen
and dumped out the little rings...
(He was so blessed to have me as a little sister...)
He also got this...
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Actually it was given to "both" of us, and he would even let me try it when he wasn't home...
My Dad got me this one year...
I loved that bear...
Around the same time I asked for this...
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I didn't get one, (I blame my poor spelling on Santa..)
but the girl next door did get one...
every time I went to her house I'd ask to play with it...
Until she accused me of only liking her for her "Speak & Spell"...
It must of smacked of truth, because I tried to never ask again, but when her mom called her to do chores or something she would wordlessly hand it to me...
When she moved away when we were in 7th grade she gave it to me...
I don't remember ever using it...
Around the time I got the Care Bear I asked for this....
"Santa" (my mom) waited in line at 2 AM and finally got a numbered ticket at 6 AM
She then proceeded to another line...
Waited another two hours and was handed this...
I opened it, and cried... she was cute, but not what I asked for...
(Mom, I completely forgive you for the weeble and dream house thing...)
I also had one of these...
Actually mine was similar to this one...
I don't think my mom knew when she bought it, that in 8th grade I'd be playing 45's of Billy Idol on it...
("It's a great day of a white wedding"...snarl)
In 6th grade I got this...
and the "Prince...Purple Rain", "Cyndi Lauper...True Colors" & "Billy Ocean" cassettes...
(Billy Ocean...Mom???)
A year or two later "Santa" brought this...
A Swatch...
The exact one I wanted...
mirrored face...multi-colored hands
I was so sure I'd get it the week before Christmas I bought this...
Ahhh... memories
Neon fingerless gloves... swatch watches...
I was "all that... and them some..."
Thanks for going with me on this little trip down memory lane...
It was fun...
What was your favorite toy?
Did you have any Santa didn't quite get right?
Come on...spill...
(all the above photo were from various sellers on ebay)
I'm linked up.....
Oh my goodness! I swear you dove into my mind and picked out all my childhood toys. I had a chuckle when I saw the Speak and Spell. Ours would say, "Spell Frink" and we'd spell it...it would say, "No, spell frink." we would spell it again...then it would say, "No, frink is spelled P I N K" LOL That still cracks me up! I blame me poor spelling on the Speak and Spell!
ReplyDeleteI loved my Fashion Plates! And the Twirll and Hurl (as we renamed the Sit and Spin) We even got the cat to puke riding on it. I wonder where my mother was when that was going on?? LOL
Thanks for the laugh and the memories. :o)
I wonder...should that be "dived" instead of dove? Because dove looks just like dove...as in the bird
ReplyDeleteI think it's dove... but I could be wrong...
ReplyDeleteoh my goodness! laughing my head off! your cabbage patch story is SO FUNNY!
ReplyDeletei don't remember what brand doll i had, but she was the closest thing mom could find to an asian one. soft, felt-like, with black hair and black eyes. i just tried to look it up on ebay...futile, since i have no clue what to search for...i considered typing in "judy", since that was my doll's name, but i don't think it would've come up with anything :)
when i was 7 or so, i received a cute white bassinet for my doll. my mom still has it in her spare room, with judy, for her granddaughters :)
Oh. My. I had almost all of these toys. My sister and I wore out our 45 of the Magnum P.I. theme song on that record player. And the swatch. I still had mine until a few years back and now I have no idea where it is. I'm sure the swatch guard was still there.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the memories.
I totally had that doll house too (I LOVED IT) ... and the lite brite... and swatch and fashion plates!! I wanted Barbie's so bad, but my mom is terrified of headless things... don't ask wierd story. Since Barbie's tend to lose their heads when played with - we never got them.
ReplyDeleteWonder if my mom still has that house... I'd sell it for $100 on ebay!
haha! Oh, memories! I loved my Babysitter Club Books.
ReplyDeleteLOVED them. :)
Wow. What a trip down memory lane. Clicked over from Mylestones, Flashback Friday.
ReplyDeleteWe must have been children in the exact same era b/c oh my word, I KNOW those toys. And "Liked you only for your speak & spell" Ha! I did have a speak & spell, and I played with it until it couldn't speak anymore. :-)
ReplyDeleteWhat a walk down memory lane! I had SO MANY of those toys. Santa was cheap during my childhood also. :-)
ReplyDeleteThe Fashion Plates blew me away. I LOVED those!
Thanks for the fun this morning.
-FringeGirl
Oh Rebecca, my heart did a little flip flop when I saw the metal dollhouse. I've passed on two of them in antique stores - most recently last week because the inside wasn't quite the same. The tag said 1950's. I hope I do find the 60's-70's version someday. And yes, I remember the elevator on a string. That was the best part! Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
ReplyDeleteOh wow-this was fun! Lots of great memories...I'd forgotten about Holly Hobby. My daughter used to do lots of babysitting for a particular family and they were her favorite because she'd spend hours organizing the furniture in their dollhouse. Mine had a dollhouse but not one like this...it was probably more like the 'cheap' kind : )
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh! I think I had almost all of the same things! It's amazing how vividly we remember our toys, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteThat was so much fun to read! I had some of those same things,but suspect that I might be a tad older than you. Holly Hobby, Barbie, oh I had a Baby Tenderlove that I saved for when I had kids and my son tore her leg off. So much for that.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, my swatch was clear, see through, ha ha.
Always wanted a dollhouse.
what fun!! i had the chance to play with so many of these things... cousins & friend's adn gramma's house! but i did have my very own family tree house. and i had forgotten all about it until now. thanks! sure has me smiling!
ReplyDelete(did you have the honey hill bunch kids?)
hee hee hee I see so many things I had... Fashion Plates were my fav!!
ReplyDeleteI had the Barbie fashion plate coloring thingy! I had a lot of those toys, but the Barbie fashion plate is most memorable!
ReplyDeleteThis is the funnest post ever. For serious. :)
ReplyDeleteI had those fashion plates back in the day. I bet my mom still has them and when the little girls are old enough she'll pull them out like she did with the Little People and the Cyclograph. :)
Truly fun post.