Raggedy Anne Truama

Kristin and I had a really buncha lotta fun this weekend, first going to Barnhouse, then hitting the other sales between there and home. I got my Finnish cardamom bread and my marionberry and raspberry coffee cakes done late Friday night, to take up to Joe & Jermonne (Barn House), then needed to get some things done on my computer, with my printer, before we went. I was so frustrated, my computer couldn't recognize the printer, etc, we worked on it untill late, then Kristin ended up taking the work home to her own computer. After re-starting mine (????why didn't I think of that earlier) it finally worked. So, we ended up with 2 hours of sleep that night, because I needed to get the bread and cakes there by 7 am.
After we got there, I could finally relax. I wish I could say I got tons of pics from Barn House, but there were so many people everywhere, it was crazy trying to just SEE it, let alone photograph it. As usual, though, lots of neat stuff. They went all out with everything, including literally, a brunch!
Although I didn't get photos, check out their blog, soon I'm sure the photos will be there.

We hit a few other sales down the road, and when we got to "Out on a Limb", this is where my Raggedy Anne story came back to "haunt" me. When I was about 9, I wanted a Raggedy Anne doll soooooo bad. I begged for her. Christmas came, and yep, I got her! Heaven!! Christmas Day, on the news, a story came up about the most dangerous toys of that Christmas season. Do you know, they said Raggedy Anne was one of the most dangerous toys?? Can you imagine? They said it was because she was flamable! Well, I wasn't sure what flamable was, but I thought it meant she might just randomly "catch on fire"! The guilt I suffered, because my parents didn't hear this news story, they didn't know she could blow up and that she was dangerous, and I wouldn't tell. I wanted her too much! I remember going to bed that night, afraid for her life. I was selfless enough not to care about my own life, wouldn't you say? Well, I had many, many wonderful times playing with her. I took her everwhere. Yes, I still had the nagging guilt about the "secret" that she could catch on fire, but other than that, we went on with life.
One day, I took her to "work" with me. Yes, I did do child labor, seriously! When I got off the schoolbus, my parents were waiting for us (my sister and I) to go screen rock. You see, dad owns a rock pit, he would use his loader to scoop the rock, haul it to a shoot that dropped the rock onto a conveyor, that sprayed water on it, and cleaned and screened it. My dad would sell the rock, which was how he earned a living. My sister and I had the job of taking sticks and poking the rock, to make sure it went down the shoot. On days when other children played, we were working the mines LOL!
So, I took Raggedy Anne to work with me, you see, and when I got my break, we went off running and jumping over mud puddles. Imagine my horror when I dropped my precious Annie in the mud puddle! I tried as hard as I could to clean her up, my mom did wash her, but from that day on, she has had a "birthmark" on her face. Not real dark, but a reminder none-the-less, of the experiences she and I shared.
Well, the reason this all came back to me two days ago at "Out on a Limb", was these two Raggedy Anne dolls. Kristin spotted them first, and she LAUGHED, saying it looked like the same thing happened to these dolls. You know, I still have this doll, she still has her faint birthmark, and I have since confessed to my mama that she was flameable. I also now realize what flameable means and I feel good that she lives here still and she isn't going to blow up or start on fire.