Too Many Doll Purchases, AGAIN!

This morning I set out to get more lights for my diorama setup, wallpaper for the Doctor's exam room in my new story, and a few groceries. My intent was to come right back and finish taking the pictures for the dio.  Well the day started well. I went to Home Depot and got my lights.

Walmart is right next to Home Depot and I decided to quickly stop by and see if they had any new Denim
Basics. There are still 3 on my list of must haves.  One was there, the red head.

The Louboutin Denim Basic was not there.  When I scoured the clearance aisle, I noticed that they had marked the LIV pet set down to $6.50.  I couldn't just leave it there. So it came home with me. My Barbies will find something to do with it.

So far so good.  But in true Vanessa form, I decided I would check the Target for the other Denim Basics, I was searching for. After all, Target was close to JoAnn fabrics, which was where I was going to get the wallpaper for the Dr's office.  On my way to Target, I stopped by Party City to see if I could figure out how to make miniature balloons.

No miniature balloons.  But a whole lot of other doll related stuff that wasn't on my list. At this point I am feeling whoosy, but I know I can't stop myself.  Right next door to Party City is the Dollar Store.  Well, I started thinking about Ms. Leo's tube dresses, and decided it wouldn't hurt to look.

I looked to the tune of about $10. Still whoosy, but decide I will be okay if I get one more Denim Basic, the wallpaper, and a little food. Well I finally get to Target. I am thoroughly disappointed because they still have old Barbie Basics and NO Denim Basics. Their Basics are marked down to $17.99, but I resist.  This Target still has 3 of the first S.I.S sets. You know the ones that are articulated! (I hate that the new ones aren't).  I had seen them there last week. Low and behold they were still there! After recently reading Afroindia's blog, Doll Drama, I fell in love with S.I.S. Grace.  So I spent too much time trying to decide which set to get. The set with the good accessories, didn't have the dolls I wanted, soooooo....

I got all three! After all, if Mattel doesn't make these dolls articulated again, there is a good chance that I won't have too many more in my collection. My stomach is churning now.  I wonder if this is how an addict feels. Helpless. I knew the dolls had taken over at this point and I stood very little chance. I still wanted that Denim Basic doll! I knew if I could just get the ones I wanted, then I wouldn't even be in the stores looking at all this stuff!  Needless to say, I continued on to JoAnn Fabrics to get my wallpaper. As luck would have it, I was in the wrong lane to make the turn into their lot, so I decided to go to the other Walmart nearby, just to see if I could find that darn Denim Basics.  Boo Hoo, no Denim Basics at all.  I did see the cutest Chelsea doll.  I am not particularly fond of this Kelly replacement, but this one was cute.

Surely, I could spare $6. After all, I wasn't going to be spending $20 on the Denim Basic. Does this mean I am ahead of the game? Well I looked down the aisle a little further and saw they had LIV dolls with bathing suits on. I wouldn't have taken a second glance if I hadn't read DGB's blog, Black Doll Collecting, and robyne's blog, Desperately Seeking Dolls. DGB recently blogged about LIV dolls and robyne's recent post showed Barbie head on a LIV body. Seeing them in bathing suits allowed me to see how awesome their bodies are. They twist at the waist, they have nice knee joints, and they have flat feet with moveable ankles. Perfect for my video stories. I prefer not using stands at all, so flat feet dolls work well. At $12.88, I sort of justified buying one, but put it back because I couldn't decide which color I needed.  Whew! Maybe I'm not addicted after all.  An addict would have bought both body colors. LOL!  Somehow as I was walking up and down the aisle, I saw the small cleaning set that someone recently posted on the DD Chat room.  I didn't realize they were so cheap! $6! Had to have one....

...okay two.  My legs are starting to tremble.  I take one more look at the LIV dolls.  I don't know why. I just had to see that body one more time. My eyes settled on the shelf above the LIV dolls.  Uh oh.  Say it isn't so.  LIV doll accessories that would be perfect for a future story. 

A cool canoe and a cabana. After all I have a Jet Ski at home already. Wouldn't it be great to put all of these in a story.  And the canoe and cabana are only $12.88 each.  What's the harm? (Are you keeping a tally?). As I turn to leave, balancing all of my new items (no cart, because I only expected to buy one thing), I walked down the clearance aisle. Oh no! They had fully dressed LIV dolls on sale for $13.  I love their clothes, and after all, it is a sale.

I left $70, poorer. I did make it to JoAnn's

I didn't do much damage because I went straight to what I needed and left. I still have that Denim Basic on my mind. Can you believe it!!!! So I decide to venture into the ToysRUs, which was right next to JoAnns. I was going to bite the bullet and pay the $2 extra to get my Denim Basic so I could stop all the madness. Surely TRU had them stocked.  Once again sheer disappointment.  They only had old Denim Basics too. I really should have just walked out of the store, but we know I took a look down the aisles. I see red clearance signs all over. Nothing too interesting. But there is another LIV doll sale.  What in the ham sandwich is going on? 

Another doll with a really cool outfit. Marked down from $19.99 to $9.99.  I couldn't just leave her there. She has that awesome body. One more clearance item caught my eye.

It was the Dora cafe set that was marked down to $4.98. Another perfect item for Barbie. I leave with my purchases. 

By the way, I did manage to get groceries.

$16 worth that will have to last for a week. I decided to forgo dinner tonight as punishment for my out of control day, and to stretch my food supply. When I got home, my recent ebay purchase of 2 Ken items was waiting in the mail.  

Talk about 'salt in the wound'. What a day! The morale of the story is 1) Stop reading those blogs! (just kidding!) and 2) Get rid of the terms, "after all" and "it's only".  I am truly wiped out!

P.S. Sorry for the bad pictures.  I spent all day buying this stuff, I didn't want to spend all evening photographing it!