Then there's the weekly trip to Tuesday Morning and Big Lots...

In my defense, I hadn't intended to go to Tuesday Morning until the bus driver declared a three-minute layover at the stop right next to it because the bus was ahead of schedule. I wouldn't have then gone to Big Lots if the Miller Road Trolley hadn't shown up before the next city bus, as the bus stops across the street from Big Lots, but the trolley turns and deposits its passengers right there.

Tuesday Morning is well into the process of remaindering Barbie Life in the Dreamhouse dolls, notably Midge, Raquelle, and Teresa. Having nabbed my Raquelle at Ross, I'm not that interested in the other two. Behind the endless rows of beach-y unarticulated Barbies, I did find a lone Fashionista whose face I didn't like, but whose articulated body had potential for transplants... and I'm glad I resisted, as she's cheaper on the Mattel web site. I'm still not going to stock up on bodies, just in case, seriously, I mean it -- but now I don't feel that this restraint caused me to miss a once-in-a-lifetime bargain.

Despite being awash in $7 Barbies (some of whom are $5.99 from Mattel's site), Big Lots has its own line of $5 fashion dolls. This poor waxy-skinned, unarticulated girl has the wide-eyed, straight-off-the-farm stiffness of Carrie Underwood on American Idol. She also appears to have the country-music wardrobe.

It's probably no shocker that this doll lacks a Facebook page, interactive web site with games and stickers, biography, pet, pro forma boyfriend, or dream house.

I dug through the display to see if there was an African-American version, since sometimes darker skin redeems a face sculpt. Nope. Ethnic diversity is expressed by having one with platinum hair and one with brown hair. It is clear from the unfortunate wardrobe choices that the dark-haired one is the geeky one with no fashion sense, too. *sigh*

These poor girls did not recommend themselves, even as candidates for dramatic reconstruction.

Of course, I dug through the Barbie display because I've become the kind of person who digs through Barbie displays -- though I did put everything back neatly and made a better job of it than the clerk -- and found this poor lost lamb lurking alone in the very back.

Bratz don't really work for me, but Strut It! Meygan is downright pretty. It's partly toning down the mega-lips to pink, partly putting her in a modest outfit, and partly that she gains a certain hippy charm from the grayish streaks in her hair. This Meygan seems to be facing her thirties with forced enthusiasm. She'll go home early from clubbing and curl up in bed with a Mad Men episode and a pint of Ben & Jerry's Hazed & Confused.

I'm still not blowing $10 on a doll with no articulation, whose shoes are prosthetics, so I set her carefully on a shelf where an appreciative future owner could find her.