Happy Easter everyone

 I thought Id say Happy Easter to my wonderful readers!!!!!
I took pictures of a ton of my bunny stuff the other day.
My original post was going to be about the origins easter and how they changed..but I got caught up doing other things so Ill do that sometime or wait until next easter.

 My husband got me this for easter on etsy last year from https://www.etsy.com/shop/sleepyking?ref=pr_shop_more

 Heres my bunnie Sophie ( yes same name as my cat what can I say Ive always liked that name )
Ive had this stuffed animal my entire life she isnt very cuddly but she is full of personality
and almost 25 years old.

                 
   Retro kitsch little blue bunny I bought on etsy last easter.

          
Heres some pictures of my woodland bear doll going easter egg hunting,

                                           I call these guys the jolly rancher bunnies

Hope everyone has a fun and colorful easter!

Health issues and stuff

I decided to write this because Ive been very secretive about my problems
hiding from my old friends and family because I dont want them to see me like I am now..do to pride
I think this well be good for me.

First off..Ive had some health problems the last 5 years or so.... really Ive had them since I was about 12 but when I got married I couldnt afford to go to the doctor all the time

The summer before I started Junior High I got really sick we didnt know the cause of it I got weak and cold all over I had to wear layers and layers of clothes and Id fall down and get light flashes somedays I couldnt walk.I couldnt hold a tea cup because Id shake so much I lost count of how many I dropped and broke.
My mom took me to a local doctor who had no idea what was going on but she sent to me to some specialist and they did ekgs eegs mris cat scans and on and on
I had to home school that year because of all my doctors appointments
By the time I was starting 8th grade I had been to the doctor 100s of times with no answer I finally got sent to a neurologist in columbia missouri a fairly long drive from my house
we would have to get up at 5am and drive to get there.
He did spinal taps and all kinds of tests and finally found out that I had an enlarged pituitary gland which had been causeing seizures and migraines and not letting me sweat.
He said that it was most unusual that I was not a little person or a giant he said thats what almost always happens with an enlarged pituitary gland.
I forget to mention that I was a chubby little girl and that in the end I had wasted down to under 80 lbs partly do to health problems and partly do to the fact that I was in the self hateing stage of life that girls at that age go through.
I started topamax to help with the seizures and migraines and it did and it helped me in more ways than that ..as I came to realize when I went off it.
When I first started it though my body had a bad reaction and I lost most of my hair and had to start 9th grade with a bandana most people didnt recognize me I had went from being a chubby little girl with blondish brown hair to a very skinny girl with black hair also it helped that they hadnt saw me in 2 years.
I took topamax and prozac all through school and I only had one big seizure in facs class and had to go home but in 3 years that pretty good.
When I got married I didnt have insurance so I couldnt keep taking it..and of course I went right back to being sick..
I went from being beautiful with energy to being fat and tired and depressed.
Well the good news is Im back on topmax its in generic now and I can afford it

So im looking on the bright side of things right now.
Lets home I can get back to the way I had been once apon a time and not hide from the world anymore.

Thanks everyone.

The mystery of the floating feet

I know I did 2 blog posts already today but I just had to blog about it because I cant quit thinking about it because its CRAZZY!!!
I watched a documentary last night about feet that keep washing up on the shore of canada it was interesting because they used forensics and I love forensics!
It started in 2007 when a little girl was walking along the beach on  Jedediah Island in British Columbia,she stumbled upon a shoe and had to pick it up and will she found a nasty foot in it
You know how many times I have seen a shoe on the side of the road or at the creek? should I have looked? maybe I will next time.

At first they were only finding right feet they found I think a total of 5 or 6 finally some left feet came up to match.
Almost all the shoes were New Balance ( a type of shoe I hate ) they showed the shoes on tv and a lady called in stating she reconized the shoe and that her husband had been missing for sometime and had been depressed..so they said it was unrelated to the other feet,..um yeah right.

I thought canada had no crime..they said they had no crime on Bowling for columbine..they said only america had crime and only americans were violent...but no apparently canada has a serial killer who likes feet.




                                   Its aboot time Canada admits that they have crime.

If your interested heres the link to the documentary

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/mystery-disembodied-feet/

Remembering childhood through books2

Alright part 2

Harry the Dirty dog is a really fun book my grandma had it her house so I read it abunch

Another one from Mercer Mayer Little critter
I loved this one I always thought of me and my mom when I read it.

I didnt like it though when little critter grew up...that made me sad.

Miss Nelson is missing one of 6 year old vanessas discoveries at reading time and I love it and still do..The art style is fun and it reminds me of something but I never know what.

Peter pan a great book sad though
I didnt think that Peter pan was going to be a sad book but it really was if you havent read it give it a shot though because its worth it it is beautiful and brings back those magical memories of childhood.
Peter pan has been most of my inspiration for my whole life.. I live by it I refuse to grow up.

Heres an old old favorite The Princess Elizabeth gift book which I discovered in the upstairs of my grammys house my copy is more beat up and has tea stains and coffee stains and highlighter marks ( my mom when she was a girl )
It was published in the 1930s and it was in effort to raise money for The Princess Elizabeth Childrens Hospital,Its full of wonderful stories by  many authors it also had some wonderful stories
The book belonged to my grammy she had it most of her life
she gave it to me when she saw how much I loved it and not wanting it to get torn up by my cousins they can be pretty rough on stuff she told me to keep it

here are some pictures from the book

This one is from the Fairy washer woman its a great but sad story and its my grammys favorite.

Come and change............

One of my favorites it think its beautiful its everything that childhood is and should be

It reads
"All her path is strewn with flowers
round her shine the laughing hours"

The painting is by Frank Salisbury

We all have these days!
where everything just goes wrong and it seems like its never going to end.
I love this book his hair always  makes me smile.

This is one of the cutest little books who doesnt love a bunny!
I cant resist them I have tons of bunny stuff squeakys,figurines,stuffed animals,and when I decide to sew up a stuffed animal what is it I sew always a bunny :)

I had this book when I was a tiny one my mom always said this is you vanessa your fussy about everything even shoes but your so cute that no one cares..
I had forgot about this book for along time until the other day when shoe shopping I hadnt bought a pair of shoes in over 2 years  and I was being fussy we went to like 20 stores back and forth and I wanted red shoes and thats when I remembered this book I finally got a pair of red converse I had to order them because they didnt have my size 5's and then I got sent they wrong pair and had to take those back and order again..this is a book Ill have to buy soon.

Who came first Gus or casper or george? Anyone know?
I think I like Gus the best but they are all so cute and so lonely.
I found these in school in first grade and I loved the dark style of art work cute but dark.

Another book I got from my brother mine has a missing story though..maybe Ill buy a new copy someday and finally learn what happens with the witch..mine cuts off.
A great story with great art work check it out!

I started reading these books in fourth grade and I was hooked!
amazing folk tales Alvin Schwartz just travels around and gets them from people much like the brothers Grimm
I saw my town in the back index for one of the stories and the town I live in now and some near by ones.
Ill never forget the boys pet dog that actually turned out to be a rat with rabies wow.

The art work is chilling and dark I love it!
Its not really scary but its not ..not scary either.




Last but not least my first book my oldest book my most cherished book
Ill never let it go

Thank you for reading this

Id love to hear about some of your favorite books from childhood.

Remembering childhood through books1

Today I was getting some childrens books ready to sell that I found over the weekend.
When I decided to sit down and read one of them the "Wishing Tree" the book touched my heart and made me cry it also inspired me to do this post about books I loved when I was little books I still love to this day.

I could resist including a picture of me when I was a tiny tot reading a book :)
I cannot remember a day in my life that I didnt love books.
So many people these days are putting down the good old hard cover for a kindle its like betraying a friend..my mom even got one the other day.
How could she it wont have the same feel or smell or comfort about it.. and you cant sit in the bathtub with it....atleast you shouldnt.

Most people when they get older throw out or get rid of there old childhood books for new more grown up books but I was never able to do that and I never wanted to.
My mom told me to never grow up and that was just fine with me she read to me until I was 18 and if I wanted to go over there right now for a cup of tea and a good story I could :)
Thats just always how it was im a lucky girl to have such a wonderful mom.
I also liked to read to her I remember reading Scary stories to her all day while she was sick or Nancy drew or Holes and Waste Side School is falling down

The lorax is a wonderful book I like what it is trying to teach and I also love how colorful it looks.
Its one of my husbands favorites and also the first gift I got him when we were dating
We went to the mall and split up so he could get me a gift and I went into the book store and got this for him and when he came back with my gift ( from victoria secret ) he got me a nightie and I got him a childrens book we are funny he said why did you get me a gift its not my birthday? and I said its a just because gift he said..whats a just because gift and I said just because I love you and its not my birthday either and he said but your a girl and I love you.
His mom was really confused she asked why he had a childrens book when he was almost 20 and he said because I like it and it was a gift.

We read it outloud to eachother every year.

A Bargain for Frances has always been a favorite of mine its so cute.
I love the art style of this book.I recently replaced my old copy I found one for a 1.00 at a flea market and I read it out loud to Josh and he loved it.
If you have the time you should read about Russell and Lillan Hoban they are interesting but kind of sad as they split up and the series ended :(

Heres a hard one to find they had them all at the library I went to as a child and I loved them
They are very cute and I always thought the little girl Betsy looked like me.

A favorite of mine by Mercer Mayer the art work is amazing!
I just love it I looked for it to buy for years and years before finding it again and now I have it of course I loaned it to my mom who also loves it and wanted to hold on to it.

One of my favorite pictures from the book :) this inspires me for some of the stuff I do.

No fighting no biting by Maurice Sendak a really great book my mom used to check out and read to me..I used to love to bite everything my toys and my mom.

And of course Nancy Drew I started likeing it when I was about 8 maybe younger I cant really remember I just remember I liked the cover art and I asked my mom if it was any good and she said that it was that she had a wonderful teacher in the fifth grade who read them outloud to the class,so she started reading them to me and she made up voices for all the charactors and Hannah became Hannah Hedgehog because at the time I had a hedgehog named Hannah.
I learned so much from Nancy drew not only was it entertaining but it was educational I cant count how many times that I knew the answer to something and someone said how do you know that and I smiled and said Nancy drew.
A great part of my childhood I still continue to collect them.

The Bobbsey twins are a sweet little series I love the cover art
I wish kids read this type of stuff more.

My brother left these behind when he move and...

I had countless snow days filled with learning fun with Scrooge and Donald and Mickey taught me everything from Diamonds, inventions ,holidays, health, animals, art ,history ,and on and on

Amella Bedella,I feel like her most of the time trying to be helpful but making things worse
I was surprised when my husband didnt know who she was he said Amella who???
how disapointing how can one not know who the wonderful Amella is :)

Now heres one I bet everyone knows Winnie the pooh is one of the sweetest things in the world.
I had the chance to read the history about him awhile back and it made me kind of sad lets just say that Christopher Robin didnt grow up to be a nice man he didnt love his dad who loved him.
and he grew up and turned his back on his toys how can someone do that....

"I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you."

They had this book in my school library when I was in kindergarten
I could look at it all day everyday.

This was another one from my schools library that I loved to look at trust me on days when I was low on friends this book got me through it I could always imagine the carebears there to help me out and give me courage and I didnt feel so alone.

Another book my mom used to read me
This book was so funny it would make me laugh and laugh Mrs Piggle wiggle was clever
This is one I need to find and add to my growing collection..but I really dont have anymore room for book shelves.

This is a book I loved the pictures were great but its Eloise Wilkin and her stuff is always amazing,
I remember my grandparents gave me money when I was 2 or 3 and I saved it and bought a baby doll and named her baby dear I and a few years later I left her at the college my mom was going to we went back the next day but some horrible kids had covered her in horrible graffiti my grandma was able to get most of it off though.

Trixie Belden a really really fun series and it can be hard to find sometimes
but its fun to get into they have great adventures
the kind of adventures kids dont really have now..its not to the tattoo parlor or sneaking into a bar or watching justin bieber its an actual adventure.

Ok this is getting super image heavy so ..................this is part one.

On to part 2

All about Kewpies part 1

Growing up I was never really into kewpies I had one that I sort of liked and my mom said something negative about it I dont remember what..but that was it I got rid of the kewpie probably sold it at a yardsale or donated it..I always thought she was right about everything and I also thought she could fly and get me the moon and maybe a handful of stars to go with it.
I still pretty much think she is right about most things..just not kewpies. though she seems to have not meant what she said because she likes all the ones Ive bought to sell and told me that growing up she had a gerber baby kewpie.



So when I first opened my etsy shop one of the first things I listed was a kewpie and it sold pretty fast so I just kept buying them and right now I have a ton of them in all different sizes some Im going to keep and some Im going to sell.


One of the things I find the most interesting is the variety of sizes and how every kewpie has something different about them due to the person who painted it.

The history of the kewpie doll is also very interesting
the kewpie was made by  Rose O'Neill  and they first appeared in ladies home journal in 1909 the first dolls produced were made in Germany they were made out of celluloid and bisque
And then in 1949 Effanbee created the first plastic versions.
Their name comes from the word Cupid,and the first dolls made of bisque are worth thousands of dollars.
The time capsule of the 1939 New York Worlds Fair contained a Kewpie

Rose O'Neill actually died in Springfield missouri which happens to be where I do most of my flea marketing

The kewpie is very popular
it is a mascot of several companies

Knock off kewpies are called Cupies they dont have wings.

Heres a neat video I found on kewpies
http://vimeo.com/47336006

Heres a photo of Rose O'Neill she is very pretty

And heres a picture of the comic strip :)

 Heres the very first Kewpie I sold I love how someone took the time to make this beautiful dress and hat for her It sparks my imagination...I imagine a little girl running up to her grandma and saying her Kewpie is cold and the grandma smiling and and then when the little girl goes out to play
she decides to make it a nice outfit to surprise the little girl :)
This kewpie was interesting I remember when I was paying at the cash register the lady said that people used to take off their heads and put baby powder in them..I had no idea what she was talking about until I was getting the kewpie ready for picture taking and I found that her head was full of the stuff.

This ones rubber felt different from the others and made squeaky sounds.
The other one was marketed towards crafters and is a knock off "Cupie"

The next one is a little one that I named Tiny Dancer and sold sometime back

This one is a little different its eyes arent as pretty because they are almost all black and souless
but every kewpie or cupie has its charm
It got adopted and went off to england.

                                           The next pictures are of my current hoard

                      Here they are lined up by size check out the tiny tiny one :)
                       The second to the smallest has a cute little sundress that I stole off a troll.
   The plastic kewpie in red is one that I bought today on etsy :) I cant wait to get it :)

 

 

 

I thought Id feature some cool kewpie finds

For sale here https://www.etsy.com/listing/122511165/darling-vintage-kewpie-doll-lolita?

 

I love this kewpie picture its full of personality and really sparks ones imagination about what those kewpies were up to before being interupted for a picture.

check it out here  https://www.etsy.com/listing/83755580/kewpie-doll-doll-flea-market-turquoise

 

 

Thats all for part one..yes part one