Tag Archives: dolls

Gotz Dolls: Highest in Quality and Fun

“Can I take my baby in the bath?” My little girl always wants to take her dolls in the tub with her.  She wants to take her dolls everywhere with her from the tub to the pool to her make believe hair salon.  Water presents all sorts of adventure for preschoolers.  Normally, I am hesitate to allow dolls to get wet or be subject hair torture from my child.  Durability is a key feature in any child’s toy.  A loved toy becomes a child’s best friend and best friend’s go everywhere together.  My child is very happy with her new … Continue reading →

Genealogy Magazines

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There are a number of magazines that are dedicated to helping genealogists further their research. Some magazines are specialized, pertaining to genealogy for a particular location, ethnicity, time period, etc. Other magazines are more general, and can be useful to the majority of genealogists. Listed here are five of the most popular genealogy magazines. Prices listed here are effective as of May 27, 2010, and are subject to change. Family Tree Magazine According to their website, Family Tree Magazine is “American’s #1 family history magazine”. This magazine is perfect for beginning genealogists wanting to learn how to get started. Topics … Continue reading →

Does Your Daughter Like Dolls?

My young daughter owns a Barbie. A single sneaker clad Barbie that sits untouched in the corner of our family room. The reason the iconic doll is even in our home is that she came with a trio of peeing and pooping puppies. My 5-year-old doll-loathing daughter happens to love dogs and went gaga when she discovered that she could get her hands on a bunch of potty training pups. The only problem: In order to get a family of urinating dogs, my daughter would have to (gulp!) buy an actual (gasp!) Barbie (gag!) doll. Barbie’s Potty Training Pups are … Continue reading →

Green Magazines

Even though I write a green blog, I still like to learn new green practices as well as keep up on current green news. Of course, the Internet provides a great number of resources, but there are also green magazines. Here are a few examples: Mother Jones Mother Jones magazine is known for its investigative reporting that that includes green issues. Editor-in-chief Roger Cohn took over in 1999 and helped move the magazine towards environmental issues. Before joining Mother Jones, Cohn was executive editor at Audubon. Cohn has since left to serve as editor of YaleEnvironmental Online, but Mother Jones … Continue reading →

Free Cookbooks and Recipes

Are you ready to start cooking more from scratch? It will save you a lot of money over the coursed of a year if you can make your meals at home. Embracing cooking at home is wonderful, exciting and maybe even a little overwhelming. Do you just want to run our an buy up a bunch of new cookbooks? Well, you could do that and still save money by not eating out on one or two occasions, but wouldn’t it be better to take advantage of getting free cookbooks and recipes. Here are my favorite sources. Free cookbooks from manufacturers … Continue reading →

What is the World Coming To? Obama Girl Dolls Making Headlines Again

Remember those controversial Sasha and Malia Obama dolls that have been the subject of way too many of my blogs? Well, apparently, people don’t want to bid aloha to them just yet. In fact, here’s some news that shouldn’t surprise anyone: The Obama girl look-alikes are HOT, HOT, HOT! You saw that coming, right? A couple of months ago the foot-tall dolls, which were marketed as part of the TyGirlz Collection, were introduced to the world. Sweet Sasha sported a pink dress and green leggings with her hair in braids. Meanwhile, Marvelous Malia donned a ponytail, green long t-shirt and … Continue reading →

Aloha to Obama Girl Dolls

Mom-in-Chief Michelle Obama spoke and Beanie Babies maker Ty finally listened. The toy maker just renamed the dolls that bear an uncanny resemblance to First Daughters Malia and Sasha Obama. Last month First Lady Michelle Obama went public saying that she felt it was “inappropriate to use young, private citizens for marketing purposes.” But, at the time, Ty reps maintained that the dolls were not exact replicas of the Obama girls and had no plans to pull them from shelves. Now, in the spirit of compromise (or threats from loyal customers), Ty has decided to change the dolls’ names. The … Continue reading →

Baby Dolls with Adoption Stories

My last blog talked about a line of school-age dolls which each had a story including adoption. I was very surprised to find a second line of dolls—baby dolls this time—who each have an adoption story. Precious Doll Company was founded by Mary Beth Wells, who placed her first child for adoption and then later adopted a daughter herself. Mary Beth says on her website that she had a three-fold dream: to reunite with her birth daughter, to become a parent herself, and to found a book and doll company that would breathe life into stories of adoption by recognizing … Continue reading →

Bratz Gets the Boot from Schools

Can I get a Hallelujah? By now most of you know that I am not a big fan of Bratz dolls (those mega-popular little dolls with the disproportionately gigantic heads). In fact, I’m not a fan at all. Which is why I was elated when I heard that Scholastic (the company that sponsors book sales at schools nationwide) recently banned Bratz from its book clubs and fairs. If your child is a Bratz collector you might not have had the same reaction I did. In fact, you may have interpreted Scholastic’s announcement in an entirely different way. For those of … Continue reading →

Dora the Explorer is Getting a Makeover: What’s a Parent to do?

If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. It’s an overused phrase, but rather fitting in regards to the latest announcement by the creators of “Dora the Explorer,” who insist it’s time to give the famous cartoon character a makeover. Fueled by the popularity of older rivals such as Disney’s phenomenonally successful “Hannah Montana” and racier entries into the toy market like Bratz dolls, executives at Nickelodeon (the children’s TV network that airs the adorable Spanish speaking nina) are reportedly in talks to re-design some Dora-themed toys and merchandise to make the character more feminine. According to new reports, Nickelodeon executives … Continue reading →