Mood:  cheeky

One of the great memories I have from childhood was playing with my Barbie dolls. I know it sounds strange, especially if you know me now, that I played with Barbie dolls, but I did. Most of my Barbie dolls were hand-me-downs from my cousin Stacee. She's four years older than I am and so grew out of her Barbie doll age just when I was really coming into mine. I had a few dolls which weren't from Stacee - Donny & Marie, and Cher were mine, as well as a new Barbie that came in her satin dark pink spaghetti strap dress with pink and silver boa. I also had three of my mother's dolls - an original Barbie from 1959, an original Ken (with the plastic brown crew cut and zipper pants), and an original Midge with the flip hairdo.

Playing with them was made all the more fun by not having a Barbie house. Yes, that's right, by NOT having a Barbie Dream Mansion. I had to use my imagination and create a house for Barbie. I had furniture, but I didn't have a house, so I created one, actually I created many. Some people build forts outside up in a tree or something - not me. I built a fort in the house using the couch cushions, my blanket (yes, like Linus), and our encyclopedias in our front living room of our house on Hargis Ave. It was pretty much the same fort I built every time. Five large bottom couch cushions of the scratchiest 70's plaid material ever! I can't remember a time we didn't have those couches, and I remember that we got rid of them when my parents divorced, and we had to sell the house on Campbell Drive and move in 1986, so those couches moved from Newbury Park and all over LA before they were gone, and I had plenty of time to make forts out of their cushions - and boy did I.

My forts also incorporated the couches themselves and our round coffee table and the two seven foot tall bookcases. The Encyclopedia Britannica and some other set of encyclopedias  were my primary building blocks as they were all the same size, heavy, and relatively sturdy standing up on end. It was like a couch cushion fort and house of cards all in one - cards replaced by encyclopedias. I had to have a big place for my Barbie dolls because I had so many hand-me-downs. All in all, I had over 15 dolls, upwards of 20 - not all of them the blond Barbie. Many of them were different versions of Barbie, like Malibu Barbie, and of course her friends Skipper and others. This one doll had the top of her head, her scalp, on a swivel. When you spun her scalp around, one side of it was long blond hair, and the other side was dark brown hair. It was pretty cool, and pretty creepy.

Of course, if you've owned a Barbie, you've probably broken a Barbie. I had two with missing arms. These were the first Barbie dolls that had swiveling arms and waists. Well, being enthusiastic about making Barbie wave, I snapped her arm off. Oh, well, now with a broken arm, she became Punk Barbie. I cut and dyed her hair (dye being permanent marker). I used hairspray and scissors and my broken arm Barbie had a Mohawk tout suite.  Nothing like broken arm cripple Barbie becoming a punk, safety pins included. This Barbie didn't want to live in the couch pillow fort though, she insisted that mansions, even if they were made of books and couch pillows were too Bourgeoisie, thus, punk Barbie had her own ‘pad' in my Dad's super large boot size shoe box. Which of course she vandalized all over the walls with punk-like sayings, and spurned the couch pillow fort and the spoiled Barbie dolls within who lounged in green & pink furniture luxury. Of course, Donny, Marie and Cher all got their own place together so they could sing and ice skate in peace without all the Barbie and Punk Barbie drama. They had their own pillow fort on my bed, and it was super groovy since I had a psychedelic patchwork quilt as a bedspread - well, Cher liked it anyway.