1940s Textbook Collection

It's still winter.  The humans are up in VT (and finally found the burst pipes from the cold snap in late December...) and we're going through the massive stashes of vintage textbooks that we have somehow acquired.

This time it's an entire curriculum's worth of textbooks from the 1940s.  Also perfect for our eventual time-traveling classroom in the old schoolhouse, but that has to wait for the pipes to be fixed and the drywall and the dollhouse to be built.  So that might take a while.  But we hope to have the time-traveling classroom done by fall.

This set has english, science, social studies, health, and math books for grades 4-6.  The english books is the exact one found in the now-retired 'Molly's School Supplies' accessory set.  As always, the human complained about a lack of math and science books for dolls, and went about fixing it in her own way.

A 4th grade textbook collection

This set of 5 textbooks would probably be what Molly or Nanea would have used.  The english book was actually published in 1947, but since the Pleasant Company accessory set had it, the human decided to include it.  The rest of the books were published in the 1940-1943 timeframe, making them period appropriate for World War 2 era dolls in North America.  (Fun fact, these books were actually found on a Canadian site because they were used in the Alberta school system, despite all being published in the US.)

Interiors, in color

The insides are scans of the real textboooks, shrunk down to doll-size.  The human tried making them as readable as possible while still being actually doll-sized.

This textbook collection can be purchased on the etsy store here.

Lily at iGEM

Lily here.  I didn't go to Vermont last fall, but I got to have my own science adventure with the human.  You see, the human was a judge at the International Genetically Engineered Machines competition, better known as iGEM, and I came along as her mascot.  I did not have a biology themed dress, but no one minded.  Except the human.

Ready for judging, with all the resources and references

So what happens at iGEM?  Well, first off, schools (high schools, colleges, and universities from around the world) form teams of students.  Then each team gets a box of various bits of DNA and are told to make a critter (usually a bacteria or yeast, but sometimes algae) do something cool.  And if they don't have the right DNA in the kit for what they want to do, well, they can give a company like IDT (Integrated DNA Technologies) the sequence of DNA they want, and IDT gives them back the physical bit of DNA.

Someone had made bacteria eat crude oil.  They won best high school poster.

They have one summer to do this.  Then, in the fall, usually in late October/early November, all those teams meet up in Boston and have a Giant Jamboree.  Over 300 teams, thousands of students.
It was great fun.  Also pandemonium.  But great fun.

DIY microfluidics for bio experiments

So what counts as 'something cool'?  Well, anything really.  Biofilms that suck up nanoparticles.  Eating crude oil.  Checking antibiotic resistance.  Curing cancer.  Advancing the basic science behind genetic engineering.  It's really the best.  I can't wait to go back again this year.

Playing with a 3D printed hand held centrifuge

October Pumpkin Patch

By the brook behind the old schoolhouse

Samantha again.  I've been the one going to Vermont with the human last fall (probably because I'm the favorite, no matter what the other dolls say.), which means I've gotten to see some gorgeous scenery and get spoiled with new outfits each time.

(Fun fact:  the human managed to blow up her sewing machine making doll clothes last September.  Changing the light bulb in her machine, no less.  The sewing machine has been fixed.  No one was hurt.  She's still not going to live it down.)

It was raining horribly the weekend with the best foliage, so by the time we could go outside for a nice photoshoot, all the leaves had fallen.  The hills were still rather pretty.  But the final destination was actually the farm next door.

And their pumpkins.

All the pumpkins.

The human bought many.  

And told her friends to come buy many.  

And we will back this fall to buy more.

Samantha at the Tunbridge World's Fair

The pumpkin at the Eastern States Expo last year might have
been bigger.  Might.

Samantha here.  We were a little occupied last fall with a number of things, so there's a bit of a backlog of our adventures.  Suffice to say, there were a number of adventures in Vermont.  One of the biggest attractions in our neck of the woods in the fall is the World's Fair at Tunbridge.

Decorative gourds and vegetables

So of course I had to go.  

It was an awesome agricultural fair, with jam and jelly competitions and crafting competitions.  The human is planning to enter some of our clothing for the doll clothes competition.  Not sure what it's going to be yet, but I hope something spectacular.  And then I can be the model at the fair for the weekend.

That is an American Girl sewing machine

The best part of the fair was the antique/historical buildings.  There was the crafting building (with a working loom, and someone teaching lace making.  Outside there were the steam engines, someone making baskets, and some Civil War reenactors.  There was also a replica schoolhouse (ours is better) with a shelf full of old textbooks.  I think we'll need those same textbooks for our schoolroom when the human finally gets around to building it.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

The cookie and cake party spread

Lily frosting cakes with some unwanted help

Samantha and Nellie with books and cookies

A holiday cookie platter with milk

Cauth and Anora in a heated game of Set

Z and Shep at the dessert buffet

Kana and Lily enjoying the roll cake

and someone trying to steal a cookie or two

Yuletide Greetings

Thank you for understanding the small delay in our holiday plans.  But we're back now with some last minute presents and gift boxes.  Because everyone needs fancy boxes to store presents.  And cookies.  The round boxes make wonderful cookie boxes.

Cookie Swap!

 The designs for the boxes are plain, and are meant to be printed out on fancy cardstock.  The human had several packages of winter/holiday themed cardstock left over from last year that were perfect for this.  To get mix-and-match lids and boxes, print the same box on two different coordinating cardstocks and just swap the lids.

Get the box designs here.

The instructions are from http://www.auntannie.com/BoxesBags/OvalBox/.  There's all sorts of cute boxes, most of which don't even need to be resized for miniatures.

And what did we store in the rest of the paper boxes?

Yes, those are Pleasant Company reproductions

Vintage and antique paper dolls.  Lots of them.  

Dating from the 1830s all the way to the 1940s.

Get the Pleasant Co. paper dolls for Samantha, Kirsten, and Molly

But going a bit back in history:  the first paper dolls were elaborately hand painted, not printed.  Paper dolls certainly weren't cheap toys, but rather expensive treasures.  The box on the left is a reproduction of a set of a French paper doll and her wardrobe from the 1830s.  The doll was double sided, as were all of her clothes and hairstyles.  This was so fashion designers and home dressmakers could see both sides of the dress should they choose to make it for themselves. 

Get the 1830s French paper doll and the box.

This was rescaled from a set of paper dolls at ufdc.org.

 'But there aren't any paper tabs to put the clothes on the doll!'  That's right.  Back in the dark ages (not quite, but close), you put clothes on paper dolls with tiny dabs of sealing wax or pins.  Tabs on paper doll outfits didn't happen until McLoughlin Brothers invented them in the 1880s or thereabouts.  You're going to hear a lot about the McLoughlin Brothers, because these were also the people who took advantage of chromolithgraphy (one of the first color printing techniques) to mass produce paper toys for children.  They're the ones who produced the original paper doll on the right.  The original dates to 1865.

Get the Civil War paper doll
This was rescaled from a set of paper dolls at ufdc.org.

The McLoughlin Bros. were known for their children's books, games, and paper dolls in the late 1800s.  We also managed to acquire a small collection of those.  First some 'themed' paper dolls:  Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes, Fairy Tales, and Little Women.  Each of these sheets has a doll and 4-5 outfits of characters.  There's also three sheets of more generic dolls, each with 3 outfits (with hats).

Ge the McLoughlin Bros. Victorian paper dolls

We hope you have a happy holiday season and a joyous Yule.

RIP Cailynn 4/23/2003-12/15/2017

We lost her yesterday.  She was a good cat.  She was a very good cat.  She was 14 years and 7 months old, and lived with us for 12 years and 6 months.  She only had one working kidney for 9 years and 7 months out of that 14+ years.  She lasted longer than anyone thought she would when she was in kidney failure in 2008.

She's chased mice (and left dead mice for me multiple times.  Once I thought it was a toy and thought didn't think we had toy mice that size, only it wasn't a toy.), watched birds outside windows, batted at fish in a tank, slept in cabinets and bookshelves and cardboard boxes and on top of every tall place in the house.  She's lounged in sunbeams on a summer's day and curled up in front a fireplace and a wood stove on a winter's night.
She slept on my pillow every night, even when I tried to chase her off.  She also snuggled under my blanket, even though that meant waking me up 3 or 4 times a night.
She had the sweetest (and sometimes most annoying) meow.
She purred.  A lot.  A little rumbling motor.
She also had 5 medical crisis, one every 12-36 months since May of 2008, and we stopped counting the vet bills she racked up.  I think it's in the low 5 digits at this point.  And it was worth it, every penny.
She was everything a cat should be, and we love her very very much.
She was very sick at the end.  It was a fast decline, in the span of a week.  It was clear it was the end, so we took her to the vet yesterday to give her an easy trip out.
I miss her a whole lot right now.  There's a Cailynn-shaped hole in my life and my daily routine.  We haven't stopped crying yet, and I don't think we will for a little while.
Bye Caily-cat.  See you next life.