Holding Out for Hayden/Holly/Hannah/Hazel and Other Random Thoughts

So, for those of you who don't know, I've officially fallen in love with My AG #55, one of the three My AG dolls recently released from American Girl.  I love her brown hair (which is pretty close to my own shade), her hazel eyes (also similar to mine), her cute freckles...just everything about her! :)  I think she'd be a great addition to the Hathaway sisters.  :D  I mean, she's got Emma's curls and a similar hair color, and Charlie's freckles, eye color, and hair length.  She's the perfect doll to tie the two of them together.  I think Piper would still work in the mix, too.  I may possibly make Piper a cousin to Emma and Charlie instead of a sister.  Piper would be a sister to my mom's Ruthie doll.  Or, I may just go for craziness and have 4 sisters!  I'm still deciding.

Thankfully (sort of), I have lots of time to decide.  After taking a hard look at our finances again, I've realized just how much I need to change things.  We have monthly school tuition payments starting in August for our 2 older girls, and even before that we're already needing to make some spending changes.

So, what does that mean exactly?  Well, for one thing, no new doll for me any time soon.  My birthday is coming up in September, so I'm thinking of asking for gift cards to American Girl if anyone needs present ideas.  I might put gift cards on my Christmas list, too.  My hope is that by sometime after Christmas, I'll be able to add #55 to my doll family. :)

Our financial situation also means that I won't be doing as many reviews of new products, since I'm going to need to cut back on my spending.  I'm going to try to stay away from eBay as much as possible (although I currently have some eBay bucks that I get to spend) :), and even thrift stores will have to be a no-no for a while.  See, my problem has always been to nickel and dime my money away.  I'm usually pretty good about big purchases.  It's all the little purchases here and there that get me into trouble. :(  And since I LOVE finding little goodies at thrift stores, I figure I need to just stay away for a while until I've gotten used to no impulse buying.

And all of you, feel free to keep me on task!  If I start doing all sorts of reviews of things I've purchased again, feel free to comment and put me in my place. ;)  I'll probably need it.  I would also appreciate your prayers as hubby and I try to rework things a bit.

Please don't worry, though.  There are still lots of posts I can do without spending money...so I won't leave you all in the lurch.  I may not have as many posts in the next few weeks, since VBS is looming on the horizon, but after that I should be back on track.  Also, my mom has really gotten into dolls, so I can do reviews of the stuff she finds. :)

Okay, and while I'm confessing things, I should probably give you another weight update...or lack thereof.  The bad news is, I'm back up to my starting weight.  The good news is, I've stayed at that weight for a couple of weeks now, so at least I'm not gaining more.  It's been pretty discouraging.  I've had a lot of stress in my life lately, so that doesn't help things either.  I'm thinking Pita may be doomed to forever live at my mom's.  :(  I may just be inconsistent and bring her home and try another motivational tactic (I REALLY want to do my doll comparisons post!!!).  I'm not sure...but I would really appreciate your prayers in this matter as well.

On to happier subjects.  I just finished Round 3 of The Doll Wardrobe's Photo Contest last week.  It has been a lot of fun being a part of things.  I'm not really expecting to win, especially since my hubby already won a doll from her (Emma last Christmas).  It's been enjoyable coming up with photo ideas, though.  Everyone has done an excellent job taking creative photos for each round.  You really should go check it out for yourself.  Here's Charlie's pic from this round (the theme was "Fashion"):

I had so much fun designing this fashion magazine cover. :)  It's worth being a part of things just for the creative aspect.  Winning is not important.   

And just in case you guys think it's rude of me to enter since my hubby won before, the main reason I entered in the first place was to get a Kanani doll for my aunt.  She's fallen in love with Kanani and can't afford a new doll. :)  If I managed to get one of the runner-up prizes, I'd probably save the gift card towards a #55 and use the summer clothes from the grab bag, as recently I've discovered my complete lack of summer doll attire.  There's not much danger of me winning, though.  Like I said before, all of the entries have been fantastic!  It's been really incredible seeing how creative everyone is. :)    

 Okay, moving on.  I'd  like to ask you all for an opinion.  If I do manage to have enough in gift cards by Christmas or so, I'm trying to decide on a name for #55.  She is going to basically be me at 12 years old, personality-wise, that is.  ;)  She will love horses and have a Breyer horse collection.  Her favorite movies will be "Beauty and the Beast", "Aladdin", and "The Princess Bride".  She will also be into vintage Strawberry Shortcake.  Her hobbies will be singing and drawing.  She may also possibly be into Lady Lovely Locks, but I'm still deciding on that.  Just giving you a little background. :)

So, here are the names I'm considering:

First Names:    

Hayden

Holly

Hannah
Hazel

Middle Names:

Edith
Brooke

Last Name:

Hathaway (sorry, no vote on this one!) ;)

So, readers, what do you think?  Which name do you think suits her best?  Leave your comment and let me know. :)  

I hope you all have a wonderful week! :)

P.S. I almost forgot!  I'm up to 85 followers!!!!  Thanks so much, everyone!  Just 15 more now until I reach my goal of 100 followers!!!! 

Okay, that was waayyy too many exclamation points for one paragraph. :}