My Toy Story

Having recently watched Toy Story 3 (which ROCKS by the way), it's made me home sick for my toys. I come from a family that never throws things away so I still have most of the stuff I played with as a kid. It is all boxed up in my parent's basement, or the more sentimental things are tucked away in my cedar chest.

The dolly I miss the most and want to hug- and will next time I visit home- is Beanzy. She was my first dolly. She was a gift from Santa for my first Christmas. Beanzy was my "Woody." She went everywhere with me. I mean Everywhere. I remember one time hiking the rocks at Ross Park and dropping Beanzy. She never did get clean after that. Then there was the time I gave her a peanut butter facial. I don't know where I got that idea from. No one in my family ever did facials as far as I know. I must have gotten it off TV. I even made her matching pajamas one year. My mom would make our Christmas jammies and once I took the left over fabric and I made some for Beanzy. I think that's what she's wearing whilst tucked away.

I also played Barbies a LOT (I may or may not have still played with them into my mid teens... you'll never know- and neither Wendy nor I will ever tell). My sisters and I would take all the boards out of the games and set them up on end. They would be the walls of a fabulous house. We had milk crates and boxes stacked on each other. Seriously, who needed a Barbie Dream House when you had imagination? Our basement was unfinished so we would string a rope over one one of the rafters and put it through a box to make an elevator. Our Barbies lived well. I think we had a gold corvette and a red jeep. We used my dad's massaging foot bath as a hot tub, and the little attachment that goes in the dishwasher (to put small things in) as a laundry machine. Our Barbies always looked fabulous. We'd spend almost as much time doing hair and changing clothes as we did actually playing. And it was always a soap opera.

Along with Beanzy when I was really small, I had a teddy bear with a wind up music box. His name was Beary. I loved him. I don't know what ever happened to him. Sad really.

Beanzy, from the box was called "Baby Beans" which became Beanzy. My bear was Beary. We were not totally hip on naming our toys. Certain Barbies had certain names.  You can't have ten different characters all with the same name.  Often, if they already came named, they kept their names. Like Valeri's Barbie-esque dolls, Shawn and Star (gymnastic dolls with flexible joints, unlike Barbie and Ken). But mostly, the description of the toy is where its name came from. My Grandma made me a crocheted doll. She was pink. Her name? Pinky. She made my sister one just like it, but blue. Her name? You guessed it. Bluey (which is funny, cuz i have actually recently met someone named Bluey... who knew it was a real name?).

I had such a happy childhood. What I wouldn't give to go back and do it more... but this time really appreciate it. And I would treat my toys much better. My apologies go out to Malibu Barbie for the whole "barbershop incident."