Never Play With New MH Dolls At A Laundromat ! No matter how empty it seems…

Current Mood : Wondering if  'energy' drinks really work.

Current Image Notes : Overly ornate as it may be, I’d love to sit down at a café for just a few minutes…

Talk about learning a demanding, hard lesson today ! After knocking out three washer-loads of clothes in the laundry room, I went to use the dryers…which did not work at all. Called the beleaguered office, who said they’d send someone over. Decided to cut my losses after waiting about 40 minutes, and called to tell them they could send them whenever, I had stuff ta do today – and was told they have to place a work order with a pro repair service for that equipment, it’s so old. She had no idea why the other person told me that, or that I’d even called.

So now I was good and fried, so much so, I skipped breakfast and planned to head to the Laundromat, with Dearest Son in tow. Fie on that laundry room ! I didn't want to go out today, but hanging jeans over the chair backs wasn’t fun either. And we don’t have enough chairs for three loads. Knew the closest one, although I’d never used it, grabbed laundry baskets, books and the Vampire/Sea Monster Create A Monster set and all the spare pieces I had, and we were gone.

Got it all in dryers, and settled in to a nearly vacant Laundromat sofa. How peaceful. Asked Dearest if he wanted his new Vampire doll, and he did, so we cracked the box open and arrayed the pieces. I just wanted the blue bits, minus the head, hands, arms, and legs, and the dress and shoes, he could have the rest and all the spare bits. My beautiful blue Sea Monster doesn’t have a name yet, but I love her just the same. So fetching with that short purple/blue wig…

Dearest at first assembled an all-pink Vamp with long black hair, but soon started changing things up with a Sea leg, a bee arm, and a bald bee head. It was then that a loud running screech bounced through the Laundromat, followed by an explosion of noise and near frantic activity at the door. A mom and her three pre-six-year-old daughters, hopped up on Capri Sun and Dum-dum lollipops, followed it like an approaching storm. I noticed that both Dearest and I had pulled our dolls closer to us.

At first, the girls were too busy trying to get Mom to give them quarters for this snack from the machine, pulling at the Laundry Soap machine levers, and racing for the TV to notice us. But our luck didn’t last. As soon as the oldest noted the doll in my hands, it was all over. I just didn’t know it yet.

Still, I wanted to be a good ‘ambassador’ of sorts for MH, so I patiently explained that this was my new doll, that one was Dearest’s, and we’d had fun putting them together. Oldest Girl was entranced, and eagerly reached for mine, immediately trying to pull her apart again. I asked her not to, then she asked to remove her shoes. These are those ankle-ruffle ones, so I asked her to leave them. I’d end up asking her two more times in the next ten minutes. Even knowing there were no other shoes to put on her didn’t stop OG.

I figured I’d best introduce us to Mom, having never met her before, but she was kinda busy on her cell. This somehow led to Middle Girl and Youngest Girl following me back to our little sofa island, and Dearest getting so overwhelmed by noise, he went to explore the game area. I envied him.

I spent most of the rest of our Laundry time answering the same questions over and over, and keeping the girls from tearing our dolls apart. They were particularly offended by Dearest’s mismatched version, wanting very much to make her all-pink again. I also got asked repeatedly if they could have them, and eventually had to take mine from OG, who started to scratch at her lip paint. Dearest was still a bit titchy around them, didn’t like how they criticized and slammed his doll around, and started to tell them how much he liked to blow up Barbies in the backyard. It didn’t deter them much, but I thought it was funny.

A short eternity later our clothes were dry – or dry enough – and it was time to go. This did not go over well. We were urged to stay, because their Mom was, but I politely insisted that we had other things to do. Mom was slightly curious about the dolls, so I left the cardboard parts of the box with her, along with an admonition to shop at Target for them, not Mal-Wart, or she’d end up with one doll, parts for a second, and three upset girls.

After all that, we needed a good lunch. I was so hungry ! Never got near the snacks we’d brought. Snagged some frozen pizzas and a few more necessary groceries in the same strip, and visited the new thrift next door. Not so much a thrift store as a ‘weird consignment collection’ shop. A truck camper shell rested at the door, next to two dinette sets and a lights and siren box from a police car, and a herd of jewel-hued recliners ruminated in one corner. Vintage skeins of yarn bundled on new rhinestone sports team belt buckles, with Fisher-Price toys so old, they belonged in a F-P museum. But they had some nice office chairs, and Beloved needs one, so we may be going back this weekend.

Oh, and I just learned my new monster’s name. It’s Carlin !