Rebecca and Elena Visit Steele Indian School Park (Native American Heritage Month)

Elena Rodriguez and Rebecca Esennath Chavez take a look into the past.

The past is a little grimy.

The gals are at Steele Indian School Park, site of the former Phoenix Indian School, at Indian School Road and Central Avenue. Back when D7ana had announced that November themes include Native American Heritage Month, I'd made noises about doing this photo-shoot. I have since reached the conclusion that I need 45-day months and 750-day years in order to get anything done; but on the verge of running out of November, I hit a couple of hours in which the light, temperature, and energy of the photographer were as ideal as they were going to get, so off we go.

Family Dollar BOGO Thanksgiving Frenzy!

Family Dollar announced a two-for-one sale on toys for Thanksgiving Day. This seemed like the moment to check out the Lovely Patsy all-leopard, all-the-time ensembles, so I hustled myself there first thing in the morning, fueled only by rampant curiosity, thrift, and a What-a-Burger jalapeño-sausage biscuit.

Leopard, tiger, zebra, and snake! But mostly leopard.

The toy aisle was the only part of the store that was hopping, and it hopped so hard that it would have alarmed a rabbit farmer. We determined, as a collective, that two-for-one simply meant "buy an even number of items, and the cheapest half of them will be free."

Last of the Blue Light Specials

When the official list of Kmart and Sears closures was released in October, I'm sure I checked it and no Arizona stores were included. Indeed, I went and found it again. Here it is. We go straight from AL-Huntsville to CA-Diamond Bar, with no AZ-Phoenix in between.

And yet, Baseline Road on Sunday afternoon was lined with these, at neat five-foot intervals, accompanied by a sign spinner next to the bus stop.

Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour when the Mart of K goeth belly-up.

It says must act now, so I think there's very little choice but to go see! I've never been to a K-Mart going-out-of-business sale, and surely in the early 21st century, that's practically a bucket list item. See Paris. Eat at Morton's. Watch a K-Mart be dismantled.

Yes, there is such a thing as a Sparkle Girlz fakie

Look what I found at Fortress CVS on the edge of downtown today.

For a ballerina, I have lousy posture.

Mini Draculaura! And many fashion-doll sewing adventures...

Mini-Draculaura, seen here helping D'Laura and Briony model their winter coats, is mini-Adele of Midnight Magic (the source of mini-Pippa, a.k.a. Pilar).

We have all been to Anthropologie.

The second Saturday after I brought home mini-Pippa, I just happened to wander into the Family Dollar in the same plaza with the laundromat (well, there's not much to do there, although it's getting a new Goodwill on December 5) and just happened to visit the toy section and just happened to search thoroughly, cross-examine the lone clerk, and search some more until I found all three of the gals I didn't have.

Mystixx Goth Couture dress from the 99 Cents Only

After a junket to S.A.S. Fabric on Saturday afternoon, I impulsively took a #12 bus up Twelfth Street, where I discovered another Tuesday Morning (where I decided to pass on a short-haired Bratz Strut It! Yasmin), a hardware store with live chickens, a pizzeria with anchovies, and a gigantic 99 Cents Only with large bags of ghost-shaped marshmallows for 9 cents. Since I'm neither eight years old nor Martha Stewart, I don't care if my marshmallows are out of season, as long as they're not stale.

In an end cap at the 99 Cents Only, I found this.

Hi. Surprised to see me here?

At first glance, I thought it was Goth Girls, like at Dollar General... but no... it's Mystixx. As in, the two-faced vampire girls (except when they're zombie girls or shape-shifting forest creature girls). Apparently these outfit packs have been out for a while, as I can find a nice clear shot on Flickr dated from August 2013. They are now $1.99, as part of the 99 Cents Only's slippery slope toward charging more than 99 cents. First it's $1.99, then it's $3.99, then the next thing you know, you're bringing in furniture like Big Lots.

A Mysterious Arrival

Here's a mystery woman. Last Friday, I found her at the Goodwill on Greenway and 35th Avenue, in a bag with a cheap Rapunzel so awful that I handed Rapunzel back across the counter as soon as I'd paid.

She was a long, cool blonde in a short, hot Swap Mart dress.

She appears to have the same face as these Barbie imitators on AliExpress, but unlike them -- and unlike the dolls with similar face-ups at the Park 'n' Swap -- she has articulated knees and elbows.

Midnight Magic Minis: The Arrival of Mini-Pippa

Pippa, Catrina, and Vincent Van Gogh have gathered to welcome... mini-Pippa!

How come her box isn't shaped like a coffin?

While on an epic thrift-store quest (of which, more another time), I stopped in at a large Family Dollar up on Greenway and discovered Midnight Magic minis! The store had all four characters, but I limited myself to choosing a mini-me for Pippa.