One of my favorite things to do on Saturday mornings lately is taking the kidlets for a long, meandering, stroller walk around our neighborhood. I set out with a little cash in my pocket and we’ll walk around until we stumble upon random garage sales.

A little lightbulb went off when I returned home from last Saturday’s round of treasure hunting and looked at my finds.  I realized - “I’m buying these toys for me more than for my kids. My kids are merely a smokescreen for me to buy nostalgic toys that I want.”

Case in point: Mrs. Beasley. 

Mrs. Beasley

I picked her up this past weekend for 50 cents. Neither of my kids will probably ever know who she is.  (Buffy’s doll from Family Affair for those of you under 35).  I have yet to see an episode of “Family Affair” with Buffy & Jody and the original “manny” Mr. French on Nick @ Nite. Her pullstring voice box doesn’t work, her spectacles are missing and she’s slightly soiled. But she was part of the toy collection of my youth.

Come to think of it.  Honestly I don’t have fond memories of her. She really was my sister’s doll. I remember my brother Doug told me to go get the mail one afternoon. I ran out to the mailbox, opened it up, and there was Mrs. Beasley’s decapitated head (a la The Godfather) staring back at me. Traumatizing! But hey she was only 50 cents.

Now, my husband wants her out of the house - he thinks she’s beyond creepy in a “Chuckie” kind of way. Peter put a kitchen knife in Mrs. Beasley’s hand to illustrate his point.  He was right. Mrs. Beasley’s wide blue eyed stare and sweetly sinister smile is indeed creepy.  Especially when wielding a paring knife. (and if she’s supposed to be an old lady doll, she’s got some serious Botox going on).

Fisher Price Little People

Then there was the vintage Fisher Price Little People garage sale bonanza of 2007. We found a driveway full of schoolhouses with magnetic letters, barns that go “moo”, the boat, the garage,  and on and on, all with the little wooden people.

The curvaceous blue mom with the plastic yellow bun hair and the goth black lipstick, the bully boy with freckles and the side turned baseball cap, the smushed face dog with plastic black ears. I chose the barn that goes “moooo” when you open the door. So nostalgic for me but merely a garage for Ben’s trains now. But at least he plays with it.

Dressy Bessy 

This doll is utilitarian and educational.  Potential playability. Very interactive and educational. You can learn how to tie, zip, buckle, button, snap and lace. Or untie, unzip, unbuckle, unbutton, unsnap, or unlace as the case may be.  She was also 50 cents and decidedly not creepy. How could I not buy her? …Now if I could only find her brother, Dapper Dan.

sidenote: Guess what I found out on Google? My creepy 50 cent Mrs. Beasley is going for up to $210 on a nostalgic toy site.  Who knew? Another piece of trivia I found - Mrs. Beasley’s voice was Cheryl Ladd one of Farrah’s many Charlie’s Angels replacements. Again. Who knew?

Okay so what nostalgic toys or games have you bought for your kids but realized they were really for you? And do they play with them?

I used to spend some lunch hours walking a long way to the NE Pacifier. Now, I can spend more time at the destination than on the journey. Pacifier is now in Gaviidae.  See Sara Glassman’s StylePoints post here. 

I was happy to see the Orange Rhino onesies featured. Vivian (being the fashion forward five month old that she is) received one for a gift a few months back.

Looking out the window today at the snow flying, it’s hard to believe that I got the spring-cleaning bug yesterday. Probably because – hey, the sun was out and I could fling open some windows and let in fresh air. 

Thermometer and weather report be damned! I did the ol’ closet switcheroo too. Bye bye winter, I’ve had it with you! Tomorrow is April and I’ve banned anything plush or warm and wooly. I also cleaned my closet of all my maternity and most of my pre-pregnancy(s) 2005 clothes. (Are ponchos still okay? Nah - didn’t think so.)  So now I have bags and bags to give away, most of my friends are done with babies so what to do? Sure there’s Goodwill, ARC and many a consignment store. I’ll divvy up my bags and send them on their way.

Now there is another option specifically for parents and parents-to-be too. Freepeats.org is coming to the Twin Cities and registration begins April 1.  See press release exerpt below.

Angie Wynne, Atlanta native and author of the popular frugal parenting blog, Baby Cheapskate (babycheapskate.com), recently announced the expansion of Freepeats.org an online forum which allows parents to pick up gently-used baby, kid, and maternity items for free from nearby parents who have finished with them.

“Preparing for a baby’s arrival is expensive,” says Wynne, “and so is
raising one. Common estimates put the cost at $10,000 in the first year alone. And this is at a time when many families are trying to get by on one parent’s income. At the same time, many of the expensive baby items parents spend their money on get used only for a very short time. There’s still plenty of life left in them. If parents can find good-condition second-hand clothing, toys, and gear, they’ll shave hundreds of dollars or more off that $10,000 total. Besides that, we’ll keep usable items out of the landfills.”
 

Minneapolis-area residents who join Freepeats before May 1 will receive a free lifetime membership. After that, there’s be a $4.95 one-time membership fee. Meanwhile, it is Wynne’s hope that residents will get hundreds of dollars’ worth of gently-used baby items for the price of the cost of the gas it takes to go pick them up locally

When Dona Schwartz, a professer at the U of M, contacted Cribsheet to spread the word about her photography project, I jumped at the chance. Check out Dona’s photo gallery and see details of her project below.

Expecting your first baby? My name is Dona Schwartz and I am a full-time faculty member at the University of Minnesota School of Journalism. I am looking for expectant parents (married, partnered or single) who would like to participate in a photographic portrait project. There is no charge and you will receive a complimentary 8×10” photograph as a gift to thank you for being photographed. 

The portrait sessions are scheduled during the last trimester of  pregnancy, or, in the case of adoptions, when the baby will be  arriving soon. Parents-to-be are photographed where they live, in  their own homes.

As a photographer and sociologist I am very interested in important  moments in family life. The birth of a first child is one of the most important moments of all. I’m interested in how people approach this momentous event, and in how their beliefs, hopes, and dreams are embodied in the space they have prepared for their new baby. Diversity is crucial to the representation I am constructing. I think it’s extremely important to show a range of ages, ethnicities, races and cultures, because everyone experiences family and parenting, and there is no single template for bearing and nurturing children. Once we become parents our lives are  forever changed.

This is an ongoing project, so feel free to contact me at any time  during the pregnancy.

Please contact me via email at dona@umn.edu, or call 651-263-1200 for more information.

I walked into the Gap recently and thought I had walked into Mimi Maternity. Empire line waists, gathers and lots of flouncy fabric. The tops have no waist definition to speak of and float down to well below the butt. All in fashionable black, brown and grey.

J. Crew was the same. The fall jackets are a lovely pumpkin shape. If you want to look like a pumpkin, that is. 

I had a moment of euphoria, quickly followed by consternation. The styles were perfect for a recent mother of two, hiding all the floppy bits and highlighting the good bits. I started reaching out for one in each color to try. But wait. Here’s the thing: What if people actually thought I had another bun in the oven?

The cruel irony: only really skinny people can get away with wearing maternity-inspired fashion and not Actually Look Pregnant.