Chavonne, my newest Journey Girl Doll

Chavonne, in her box at Toys R Us in Metrotown, lower level where Sears bargain center once was, and in the long ago ancient days of the 1960's where Simpson Sears toy store once was!

I was struck with Chavonne's pretty face and I love her dress. I thought that Toys R Us was going to close down in Canada, as it is in the USA. So I purchased this doll on March 23 for $34.99 Cdn. I really like her face and hair, and I love her outfit.

Here is her face up close.

Chavonne out of her box.

By Loretta Houben

A cold wet spring day.

Nanea and her new friend (nameless so far) are just finishing a pretty puzzle of a Hawaiian scene.

It was bought for only $1.25 at Dollar Tree and was really fun to make. (my new hobby at the moment)

We've had an extremely cold and wet spring.

My flower garden loves the rain, but I can't work in the garden when it's wet. In between the torrential downpours I scurry out and weed a bit. I did get some perennials planted last week and I nearly ruined my right knee. It doesn't like to kneel on the ground anymore!

I'll have to get Nanea to do it for me...

By Loretta Houben

A new Journey Girl piece of furniture!

Today I thought of Heather Cuoio, a doll collecting friend I met online. She often posts in her darling doll blog about all the cool deals she finds for dolls in thrift stores. We don't have great thrift stores here but we sure have great stores for doll items, if you keep your eyes open. Today I thought I'd check out Toys R Us at the mall, as I don't know how much longer it will be in business. I headed to the Journey Girl section, and admired the Australian dolls they have. I checked out the doll props, and I couldn't believe my eyes, as the turntable unit was only $11.98. 

Of course I didn't need it, but only $11.98 Cdn? So I bought it. It was very well packed, and although not perfect (painting flaws) I'm keeping it. It has a mirror on one side, storage spaces, and a chalkboard on the other side. 

It really does turn. It also comes with a side table and a plastic lamp. Cool, eh?

By Loretta Houben

An archived post from my main blog: January 23, 2015

(This post was taken from my main blog; I'm planning to add all my doll posts onto this blog. I wrote it on January 23, 2015.)

Maybe it's the really wet rainy weather we've been having this month, or missing Hawaii, or the fact that nothing stays long here in Vancouver BC, but I bought another doll yesterday, the 3rd doll this month! That's quite unusual, seeing as one of the dolls was an AG and you know they're not cheap.

I was busy for around two hours on Wednesday rolling a large container of coins, including pennies. Here in Canada we no longer use them as the Bank of Canada discontinued their production in early 2012. It took me over a year to get used to no pennies, and I no longer find them on the street. However instead I find quarters so I guess that's much better! I can't figure out if I'm getting cheated or not, as if the total of an item in the store comes to $10. 23, and I hand the clerk a $10 bill plus a quarter, I don't get 2 cents back; I get nothing back. But if something costs $20.02 I just pay the $20 and don't worry about the 2 cents so maybe it all works out? It's called "rounding up" or "rounding down".

Anyhow, I went to Toys R Us yesterday after cashing in my rolled coins at the bank.

I got quite a bit back! The pennies totaled $10 so they helped to buy the Journey Girl doll produced by Toys R Us. That's their brand of 18" doll I guess. They have really cute accessories including a darling bike for only $34 and a neat oven for $34. 

They had around 20 different dolls so they were well stocked.

I settled on Dana, an animal lover. I re-named her Penny. Tee hee...

That way she will always remind me of the lost Canadian pennies.

She has a cute dress and sweater, handbag, and blue plastic shoes.

Her glasses make her too studious looking so I removed them.

Here is the huge stack of pennies which amounted to $10!

Coins really add up. The whole amount of all the rolled coins came to $98!

Amazing...

This year I'm planning to save all the toonies ($2 coins) and use them for eating out, as we are on a very low budget this year. My husband got a new job last October 2014 at Coast Capital Savings and it is quite a bit less than he used to make in previous years before his brother left the company due to illness. But we are so glad his job is stable so we have to learn to make do all over again, similar to when we were first married. I guess that's how life is in the 2010's!

Here is Penny released from her box.

Isn't her accessory set cute? There are around 6 different Journey Girl dolls, all in the same packaging. I loved this accessory set as I simply love London! It was only $13.99 Cdn. The JG dolls have really small feet so their shoes don't fit an AG doll.

Of course the T-shirt would look better with jeans or a short jean skirt.

The set has a cute cap, shirt, London map, and a thin plastic red camera, with the adorable red plastic sandals, which were a little tricky to fasten in the back.

I'm getting attached to these little dolls. I found some cute pictures of them on Pinterest.

There's nothing like another new doll in the house!

Loretta Houben