Bye bye Ken...Hello Action Man...

I've decided to have a little blog break today as have lots of ideas but just can't seem to blog them. Why? I don't know but I am lucky, I have Miss Faux Fur here!! She has kindly offered to guest blog (she totally loves it after her first guest blog here).

Over to you Miss Faux Fur....

The other day I was questioning some of those moments that occur during childhood that seem to affect us in later years. You know the ones that turn us into the people we are today...here are a few of mine.

Number 1

"The magic ice cream making machine...how to make friends and influence people"

Miss Faux Fur aged 6 (or should I say Mini Faux Fur):

My family and I had moved back to the UK and it was pretty difficult to adjust to a new way of life. It was difficult to make friends, we had to move into a much smaller house, we had to adjust to freezing cold weather and getting to grips with the school curriculum was tough. I also had a weird accent. The local kids couldn't tell if I had come from Australia or American (neither by the way) and I had no idea what was cool or not in the UK at this point. Actually come to think I'm still trying to figure that out...good job I have Missy to keep me right!! The story I am about to tell you is a wonderful example of how and why (aged 6) I was under a lot of pressure to make new friends:

Mini Faux Fur was out on her bike one day. She was quite happy riding along all by herself as she hadn't met any of the kids in the neighbourhood at this point. She was fairly confident bombing around on her bike... whizzing round corners at great speed...everything was wonderful...CRASH!! Oops!! It so wasn't her fault. A kid ran out in front of her and she accidentally ran him down. Worst thing ever... this kid was like the cutest and most popular kid in the neighbourhood...dumb move Mini Faux Fur!!

Yup, I was the weird girl with the weird accent who couldn't ride a bike. I was not liked by anyone (or at least the four or five kids that were playing out in the street that afternoon but I like to exaggerate). What could I do? I needed to make friends pretty quickly and I had to resolve this before I was shunned by the entire neighbourhood, even the parents. Along came the bright idea...the 'magic ice cream making machine'!!I convinced the kids  that the 'Faux Fur Family' owned a 'magic' ice cream making machine, that produced all sorts of delightful treats! I got to work...I started spreading rumors that this fabulous machine was kept in the pantry and that the kids could taste the ice cream just not see the machine. Eventually, or should I say within 5 minutes, word got out, kids loved me and I had my own 'mini faux friends.' 

{via}

Moral- Tell people you can get free ice-cream and they will love you.

Number 2

"Barbie, Ken and Action Man...why women are never happy!!"

My Barbie was very happy with Ken. They owned a large house, had a swimming pool and convertible (ok it was made from the lid of my 'Guess Who' game but worked just as well). They also had two lovely kids and possibly a dog  'my little pony' that I pretended was a dog (Make believe is great). As far as love goes this is where it all fell apart...

One Christmas, presents seemed to get muddled up and Mini Faux Fur ended up with her cousin's Action Man. For some reason she didn't let on...hey Action Man was a pretty cool gift and for a long time became her 'new favourite'. So anyway, Barbie started to spend a lot more time with this 'Action Man'. He was very manly and wasn't scared to climb up things and hurl himself out of bedroom windows. Barbie liked this. As for Ken, well he didn't stand a chance!! He developed a drinking problem, the children were taken away and I have no idea what happened to 'my little pony dog'. So why ARE women never happy...no matter how perfect, or how well Ken treats us? We'll always be attracted to Action Man.

Moral- Woman always say they like Ken but they always want Action Man.

Number 3

"Learning to drive with a biscuit tin lid and a wooden spoon...and why I'm too scared to get my licence!!" 

As any normal child I was very excited about the idea of driving a car, van, lorry, giant tractor ...which is quite bizarre considering I still don't have my licence. Perhaps it's the fact that when I was a kid my uncle used to teach me to drive using a biscuit tin lid and a wooden spoon.

Every weekend without fail Mini Faux Fur's uncle would come over to visit and being the annoying child that she was she would always demand his attention. For some reason he thought that giving Mini Faux Fur (aged 8) driving lessons would suffice. And like any good child she'd sit there all excited to be spending time with her favourite uncle and a biscuit tin lid. She would pretend he was the driving instructor while she would drive all about town. Mini Faux Fur would be sitting there for ages, 'check your mirrors!', uncle would shout, and after a while she got so bored of holding the wooden spoon (aka the gear stick) she would ditch it behind the settee. 

I am so concerned that my completely boring childhood driving experience has totally put me off. I'm worried that when I actually go for a real lesson I will freak out, try to dismantle the gear stick and chuck it out the window. Can you imagine the shame?Maybe I should go for an automatic!!

 Moral- Drive an automatic.

What about you? Any childhood experiences that have crept into your adulthood? I'm sure there are some great ones!!!

Childhood toys..

It's my first proper day off and I will confess that I have not made it past the settee yet. I am allowing myself a day to do nothing, maybe have a tidy but essentially be boring! That is the reason that I am sitting watching Toy Story. I saw the final one when it was out (yes- I did shed a little tear) but I had forgot how much I loved the original. Whenever I watch the films, I always start thinking about my toys and how much I loved them!

One of my favourite toys when growing up had to be Barbies. I used to love Christmas when I would get some Barbie with a big pretty dress and the little daily dressed Barbies I would get throughout the year. 

{via}

 What a collection!

Then of course you had Ken. Ken was Mr Reliable for Barbie. Me and Miss Twin would spend hours setting up Barbie houses and acting out little lives of them.

{via}

 

 

See... looks good in any era!

I had little families, jobs and favourite outfits for them. As I grew a little older, I even gave them haircuts. Obviously they all looked much better after a hairdresser visit. 

Another toy which allowed me to be creative was Girls World. I would style, cut, restyle her hair as well as change her make up all the time. I have to admit that I kinda ruined her when I asked one of my big brothers to do her make up like the Ultimate Warrior (My favourite wrestler ever) and it stained her face forever with a red tinge. Oh I also learnt that the dolls make up was not made for kids.

{Via}

 

 

 

 

{Via}

 

Yea... as you can imagine, Girls World looked pretty strange amazing painted like the above! 

I could keep going with toys, from the more late 90's to the obscure ones but the last one I am going to leave you with was a firm favourite with me and Miss Twin:

{via}

The one and only Fisher Price kitchen!

Me and Miss Twin would wake up early on weekends and busy ourselves in the kitchen. We'd host parties, serve our family nutritious plastic meals and have lots of fun. We even utilised the sink to create marble effect pictures with water and paint. Yes...we were very cool! I would like to say this kitchen taught me valuable cooking skills but I am the worst cook ever (unless you want cupcakes and cakes).

An honorary mention goes to my older brothers Lego collection. Again, another toy which I loved as a kid. It's something which never falls out of favour...ever!

{via}

 I loved the lego trees. Always made my homes look pretty!

Now I have kids coming into school raving about their favourite video games (one even speaks about Call of Duty and he's 7!) and nothing else.

What was your favourite childhood toy?