It was way too cold to take children outside yesterday. We need to invent a new weather term for when the wind has nasty hard crystals of snow in it. Not snow that gathers, or drops prettily, just white driving snow that whips through on its way to somewhere else, like a transient doggard mean-spirited sand blaster. The builder and I were both wearing sunglasses as we worked outside to stop the snow blowing straight into our eyes, even though the clouds were low and grim.
Anyway earlier in the day during home-schooling break time, I decided not to take the children to the barn to play, we would play inside, so we dragged out the big, big box of toys that John’s daughter had left behind when she left home.
Oh Joy! They shrieked as they pounced.” Barbies!”
I groaned. Yes, I have to admit. I have never been in the Barbie camp. I was the Mean anti Barbie Mum.
“Can we play with the Barbies?” They said. There were so many.
(I checked with their Mother) “Well, ok.” I said, “Just as long as you know that Barbie is a freak and so anatomically incorrect that if she actually stood and walked on those legs she would fall flat on her … um.. face and probably break her hair. And those boobs are not real you know that. Normal people don’t actually have bodies like that. And where is her underwear? She is just pretend you know.” On and on I went.
‘We know, our Mum told us’. (Sweet how they say Mum in American accents.) “So can we play with them?”
“And no-one can actually walk for more than ten steps in shoes like that, you know that? They hurt your feet.”
(sigh) “Yeah, our Mom told us.” Little fingers wriggling with anticipation.
“And some of her clothes are not appropriate for winter you know, she is going to have to cover up if she is going to be dragged about my floor.”
Kids can sense capitulation. Their eyes held mine as they edged towards the play room.
“Ok then.” I said to an empty lounge, they were already tipping the boxes out and shrieking with delight.
“But only 15 minutes then we are making little sheep out of real wool!.” I called out
“OK, miss c”
.
On a more exciting note it has been discovered that if you put a block truck in just the right spot then tickle Thing One the cat will stretch his foot the necessary inch to knock the truck to the ground. Very entertaining. 
Second hand Barbie has a very tall horse evidently, that walks. Who knew.
My daughter is going to be demanding an apology when she sees this, me being that mother who would not let my daughter play with Barbies. 
And while his children played and worked inside the kiwi builder worked outside all day in the most terrible blowing as-yet-unnamed driving snow-wind.
Good morning my darlinks. Tomorrow I am probably not going to be posting a blog page, unless something very exciting happens. I need this wee writing window to finish my next assignment for my creative writing class. You all have a lovely day.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
62 responses to “Second-hand Barbie made me do it!”
No post tomorrow… but we haven’t seen the pigs for days!
I have never been a Barbie fan, either, nor are my girls, thankfully. I had a few – and wasn’t ruined by them – but mostly I liked my Sunshine Family dolls – shorter than real Barbies and kind of hippie-ish…ok, now I need to blog about them! 🙂
I can certainly understand your view point, C, but I played with Barbies (and Kens too) and turned out OK. Well, except maybe that weird twitch when I see long blond hair (kidding). I had mod-hair Ken and grippie Ken, so I pulled off Mod-Hair Ken’s head and put it onto grippie Ken’s body so I had grippie Mod-hair Ken.
That is just hilarious, I am laughing out loud reading all the comments today!! Poor ken, heads were rolling!! c
It seemed like the perfectly natural thing to do at the time. I might have been eight.
Let’s just say growing up as a real Barbie, as in name, was always interesting. My
kids’ friends just loved saying my name….with a giggle. My daughter’s both cut the
hair off and magic markered their {barbies} hair in glorious colors to be punk rockers.
I was delighted !! Since I am 5 feet tall and athletic with no breasts there is no
confusion !!
Fantastic.. punk barbie! .. morning barbie!! c
Thing One has a the right attitude – one that all cats have. Expend only the right amount of energy to achieve a reaction. Celi once again you have turned the weather report into poetry. V.
exactly, such a lazy cat and we have been hearing reports of a mouse in the basement and still he sleeps on! c
What about Sindy dolls? “A rival to Barbie, Sindy’s wholesome look and range of fashions and accessories made it the best selling toy in the United Kingdom in 1968 and 1970.”
I however had neither. And I didn’t really want them. Instead I had the more realistic baby dolls which needed baby care. I think she was a Teeny Tiny Tears. The I moved onto a Bella…because you could do her hair 🙂 (and you most certainly couldn’t do mine… )
Barbies in our house seemed to loose their heads and limbs. I swear it wasn’t me.
Oh no.. you are like my mum, she collected dolls heads in a jar! i am not kidding! c
now that ..is funny !!
Oh, the many vicious faces of your winter weather. Sounds horrid. My older granddaughter ended up with Barbies, and passed some on to the 4 year old. Why do they appeal so much, these odd distortions of a female? You have a brave builder.
As you know, I totally approve of you taking a day off from time to time. Your [other] creative writing must be nurtured!
Have a nice day off. Sometimes that is just what is needed!
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com
Some people who play with Barbies turn out okay. When they farm, they wear lipstick. 😉
You wear lipstick in the barn too!?.. c
most hours are spent outside the barn so all my lipstick is SPF 15.
Laughing my head off! Oh, both my daughters loved their Barbies and Skipper and Ken and all those clothes 😀 ! I don’t think any of us thought in terms of body shape or lack of underwear and when all of Siiri and Kersti’s friends came to play with theirs the living room would be full of fashion parades and all kind of games! Took awhile sometimes to figure out which clothes belonged to which little girl at the end of the day! Actually they grew up quite normal and this Mom remained so [I think?] too 🙂 ! Have a productive day writing, Celi!!!!
I know .. it is all a bit of a lark now.. I used to take all that body image stuff so seriously and it was all just play.. and they do play together with the barbies.. ! c
Aw! The kitty is too comfortable to be bothered with the toy.
Good grief! Even second-hand, Barbie is full of mischief. No wonder my sisters and I didn’t let her come play at our house either. 😉
What fun to have a house full of young children again! I might have to adopt a couple in my neighborhood when they come out of hiding in the spring. I had TONS of Barbies! Haha! And yes, for one Christmas, I even got an entire child’s size suitcase of little barbie clothes that my mom had sewn by hand. Barbie gets a bad wrap. 😉
Loved this post! Barbie is a freak! Thing One is a more purr-fectly proportioned playmate! 😀
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