The original plan for today was to scan the Holly Hobby pattern I got last week, and finally getting down to sew Jasmine's harem outfit, since I can't ever seem to ‘win' the right to buy one on eBay. But that was before Beloved Hubby asked if I wanted to travel with him to a distant specialty store - and we'd stop wherever I wanted to ! Who could refuse ?
As it turned out, the store was located in a town where Beloved Hubby did one of his earliest ‘working for himself' jobs, before branching out on his own full-time. The lady of the home had the same form of heart disease I do - peripartum cardiomyopathy - but she'd taken the risk of having a second child, and her heart had seriously deteriorated. She had a sweet son Dearest's age, and a teenager, and her husband contracted for the military. Frankly, he seemed kind of a jerk, but I really got on great with ‘S'.
We did a lot of work for them, and Dearest and S's little boy got to play together frequently. I even baby-sat for them when S was hospitalized, which was a bit of a drive for her husband. Buy then, as things happen sometimes, we lost contact, stuff and family got in the way, and one day when we tried to call, the phone was disconnected. I feared the worst, and driving by their house about a year later, we noted that it seemed almost abandoned. I was deeply saddened. S was a truly sweet and wonderful woman, and I missed her like crazy.
Well, neither Beloved nor I ever forgot her, and since we were in the area, decided to drive by again. Just as we pulled up, so too did the phone company, and the front door opened. It was her ! S !!! She was fine, and looked fantastic ! I almost cried. S looked at me curiously, and then her eyes lit up. She remembered us, too ! She barely had time to tell the phone guy what was wrong with the inside lines before sweeping us up in a big hug and urging us inside.
We stayed nearly three hours, catching up and telling tales. She's divorced now, and while I wouldn't say it in front of their son, I was glad. Her ex always seemed to need such control over her and the boys that the house always seemed...dark to me when he was there. Not the case anymore ! She has a cardiac implant that helps, so she's looking so much healthier than before. Her teenager is this tall, intelligent, curly haired romantic hero type now, and her little boy ain't small either ! He and Dearest are gonna get along fine, I think ! She's coming over to visit us next week, and we're already invited to a Halloween party. I'm not sure about this ‘social life' thing, but I'll give it a try !
I was all happy all day. I got her new phone number and she has ours, and I hope to never lose contact again. She's too special !
On the way back - Beloved found what he needed at the specialty shop showroom, and we even got a thick catalog ! - I spied a thrift store, so we pulled in. They had a few bags of dolls, but nothing of interest. I'd covered most of the toy section, and was about to go down the back of the aisle for a second look. I usually do that, as sometimes, things look different from the other side, and I've found interesting things that way. I was actually second-guessing myself, but decided to do it anyway.
Am I ever glad I did ! (sigh) Settle in for ‘I Remember' Story Theater time, kids. Get a drink, too. Anyway. One of the last toys I really remember from having when I actually was a kid was Tomy's Fashion Plates. Heavily advertised, this toy announced that YOU could be a Fashion Plates Fashion Designer by lining up the embossed plastic plates in the included tray, rubbing a black crayon over it, then using the textures on the other sides of the plates with the included colored pencils to create your own look ! I loved this thing.
Oh, I got into trouble over it - nearly all my long-ago toys have some ‘tragic' tale associated with ‘em. I vividly remember going nearly hysterical when my mother tossed out my Star Wars board game because I'd left it in the living room, when she'd never threatened to do that before or since. I'd left it because I had to take out trash right that minute, and when I finished, there she was, tossing my game in, box and all. I loved that useless game. Anyway. I was telling my visiting cousin that Dad had probably forgotten to get it for me again and he overheard me, while he was holding the darn thing. Well, at that time, the only toys I got were what my allowance bought, I'd saved up for a month for it, we were so far out into the sticks, I went months without coming anywhere close to a store, and yes, I was a brat. He basically heaved the box at me and refused my apology or to even speak to me at all for a week. While my cousin was there, they fawned over her and completely ignored me. That always hurt. It was their preferred method of punishment, next to their remarkably accurate pitch of an undeniable insult that brilliantly highlighted their disapproval of my most recent failing. Or a failing from ten years prior, those were also valid targets.
So I couldn't bring myself to touch the toy for at least two weeks, until I was sure Dad tolerated my presence in his life again. I made sure to play with it quietly, and to never leave any pieces of it out. Used the backs of papers I found in the trash when the included supply ran out. I liked how, in the commercial, the ‘designers' pinned their creations to a bulletin board, along with fabric swatches, and that was about the only evidence that I even had that toy, my bulletin board. Not having fabric swatches, I hung up a few Barbie outfits that sort of resembled the pictures. I'd also dimly thought this would cheer my mother, because at last I would be showing interest in clothes instead of dolls. So I tried very hard to turn out perfect rubbings and colorings to show her. This turned out to be a major miscalculation on my part, she was far beyond ‘not interested' in these efforts, which also kinda hurt, but I was used to it, so the fallout was miniscule.
About the last time I remember playing with it was one of our family trips to the beach. I'd have dozens of cousins to play with, but the drive up was eternal. Luckily, we had the camper shell on the truck that year, so I could play with it in the camper during the drive, where I could barely be seen, and never heard. This was maybe two years after a maternal cousin broke my favorite Barbie, so I learned to put my toys away when others were around, and I was most careful storing this one. Even though all the cousins I had on my paternal side were older than me, and could care less about stupid things like toys, I just couldn't take the risk ! I think it vanished with the rest of my stored toys when I joined the Army. I wish to this day I'd rented a storage unit and not depended....ah, heck. Not like it would have mattered...
So. Long story short (too late !), I had the original 1978 Tomy Fashion Plates, and despite a rocky start with them, loved them utterly. I found a partial set on eBay, when I was looking for Barbie things, and figured the plates could be used with the Little Mermaid Fashion Plates clone that was also part of the lot, so I bid and won cheap since no one else was interested. Turned out, the Mermaid set (by Rose Art) was just a bit smaller than the original Tomy (later Hasbro) sets, so they were incompatible. Oh, well. Later this year, I found several Tomy plates in a yard sale box, and darn near tore that sale apart looking for more plates and the frame. Didn't find ‘em, but they pretty much gave me the plates... When I'd bought the Mermaid lot, it was inching close to Christmas, so I watched as full sets slowly went up, from $15. for no-box, ‘mostly complete' sets to $50. for mint ones. Too pricey for me - I'd wait until after the holidays to search. And I did, off and on, but the prices never seemed to go down.
And now, what all this has to do with today's thrift store adventure. On the other side of the shelf, I spied the corner of a not-vintage but very familiar fashion plates-type frame. I grabbed the bag, and...wow ! There was a vintage Fashion Plates frame in there, along with fistfuls of plates and several other frames ! There's a Barbie one, and a very small one, and even what looked like pieces from More Fashion Plates, a set of additional pieces to be used with the '78 frame, that I'd only seen on eBay.
I could hardly wait to pay and head out to the car with my bag o' treasure. I'd had to contain myself to pay the $3.19, I was that excited. Wow. I could hardly wait to get home and see what I had. I must've bounced all the way home, happy for seeing S, and happy for having my old Fashion Plates back.
And...yes, I now have a complete set. I have the pencils, all the plates (even some doubles), and the frame, and the More set was complete, too. I also gained another Barbie set, and a Hasbro ‘travel' version of various dancers. These compliment the talking Barbie set I got at a yard sale this year, and an early Barbie set I found a couple years ago, plus the Little Mermaid one, and the one that started it all, a cheap knockoff set I found at a thrift store for a buck. Seeing them all arrayed on the bed, Beloved commented that I really should document the collection online, for others who also loved this toy. So I probably will.
I'm still researching why the original ones are by Tomy, and identical sets (with updated plates) from the late 80s on are from Hasbro. At first, I figured it was another buyout, but Tomy is still a viable company - Takara owns them, and still uses their name. I swear sometimes, the lack of documentation in the toy industry is just shocking !
I had an amazing day ! I hope yours was incredible, too !
