The Best Way to Spend a Lengthy Post ER Trip

Clear plastic wrapper with peach label has the word, Beautiful, written repeatedly on it.

I did not expect to spend my Friday evening and the early hours of Saturday morning in a local emergency room (ER) but sometimes duty calls. After a family member informed me of their illness and desire to go to the ER at around 6 p.m. this past Friday, with me in tow,  Hubby drove me to the person's home and we all took the short trip from their home to a local hospital ER. The trip there was the only thing that was short. We spent several hours in the waiting room before an examination room was made available. Another several hours in the exam room involved the collection of urine and blood specimens for laboratory tests, a portable chest x-ray, results' waiting time, and an IV of comforting medications for the patient. The patient was dismissed around 8 a.m. Saturday with followup instructions. Hubby and I were so tired.  I had been awake since 3:30 a.m. Friday, so essentially, except for the few nods I took in the examining room, I had not slept in over 24 hours. After taking the patient home, who felt much better and offered sincere thanks for our time, we went to a donut shop for coffee for him and a blueberry donut for me, both to-go, before returning home and crashing until about 1 p.m. (me). Hubby was already awake when I finally awoke.

After a bite to eat, I sat down at my desk to check email (without the lights on in my doll room/office).  Soon thereafter I heard the doorbell ring. A few moments later, Mr. G. asked, "Where are you?" and then answered his own question, "I should have known... playing dolls." When actually I was just sitting at my desk. He said, "You have a doll." Incredulously (because I was not expecting anything to arrive this soon), I said/asked? "A doll?"

About 10 days ago I ordered what was described by the seller as (word-for-word): Original Macmillan Germany Black Skin Doll / with 11 Joint Flexible / Africa Doll Black Curly Thick Hair For Barbie Doll Gift.  Is that a title or what?  The doll was included in my search results at Aliexpress.com for "African doll."  I used these search words because sellers on the site do not use the descriptive terms Americans generally use for black dolls. "Tan" to them is often considered black, but if you search for "tan doll," a multitude of non-black dolls will result.  I try to cut to the chase and use "Africa" or "African" in my searches on their site and sometimes, as in the case of this doll, I have positive hits. After finding her through the search results, I placed the order on July 27th and was not expecting an arrival for at least another week.

Marked ©2012 Macmillan Toys China, this lovely doll arrived just in time to provide a quick doll fix after I spent some 13 hours in a local emergency room.

This 12-inch doll arrived inside a clear plastic bag with peach self-adhesive label that contains the word "beautiful" repeatedly written across it (as seen in the first image of this post).  The plastic bag-filled doll traveled unscathed from China to me as a small packets delivery with only a rectangular shaped bubble wrap envelope to protect her.  As the seller's description indicates, the doll does have 11 joints, unfortunately the joints do not include any in her torso.  The joints are restricted to her neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, and knees. Her head is disproportionately sized.  Her painted brown eyes are not very realistic looking, but this is usually the case with most manufactured, inexpensive playline dolls. The non-jointed torso, over-sized head, and generic painted eyes are her features that are my least favorite.  Everything else is a thumbs up.  She posed for several photos, which are shared and captioned next.

After watching a recent episode of America's Next Top Model (even though Tyra Banks now wears a pixie-style haircut), I decided to name this girl Tyra.  Tyra shows off the fact that she can do an impressive split.

The split is followed by a full-view pose.

Her sitting-like-a-lady pose is not accomplished very well, but she can cross her legs at the ankles.   Crossing them at the knees was not able to be done with such ease or grace so I did not bother capturing her attempt at this in a photo.

Whose shoes can she wear?  Her feet are slightly smaller than the new biracial Fashionista's and her arch is not as defined, but...

...Tyra can wear Barbie shoes made for high-heel Fashionistas and she can wear So In Style Barbie shoes.

Complexion-wise, Tyra's medium brown complexion is lighter than So In Style Kara's and slightly darker than So In Style Grace's.  When standing straight, Tyra is also a little taller than the SIS girls.  She measures right at 12 inches.  (Her over-sized head is apparent in this comparison photo. Her appealing face compensates for this flaw.)

What to wear or what not to wear is the question in the case of this Sparkle Girlz aqua lacy party dress and gray heels.  The heels are okay, but the dress, not so much.  It is too short for her long legs, in my opinion.

Since Sparkle Girlz (SG) clothes are now my go-to fashions for playscale dolls, I searched through other still-carded SG fashions and found this two-piece one-shoulder top with stretch denim Capris.  Initially, Tyra could not decide on the light or dark pink shoes and matching purses.  I prepared a cup of ginger tea to allow her to contemplate the matter.

She ultimately decided to wear the gray heels that came with the aqua party dress and carry another gray purse that was found still carded but without its accompanying fashion.

Tyra models one last photo wearing her fashion ensemble selection.

As indicated, I purchased this doll from Aliexpress where, at the time of purchase, two blondes, a brunette with true tan complexion, and the version I purchased were available from this particular seller. There is also a version with the same complexion as my doll with blue eyes and straight dark brown hair.

In my opinion, my doll's thick, luscious black hair is her best attribute!

In addition to being a nice way to recover from a 13-hour ER ordeal, receiving Tyra was a great inside way to beat the current triple-digit Texas heat.

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