OMG CYN427 --that's really too bad. The first edition bubblecut would have had the shorter, tighter cropped bubble which is my favorite and the one I am looking for. I don't blame you one bit for being upset about it. Those dolls certainly have value, sentimental as well as $$$. I would like to find a dark-haired Ken with the flocked hair, but with the majority I find, most of the flocking has fallen off. I don't still have my bubble cut from that era, but do still have some of the clothes, many are pretty worn because I played with my barbies A LOT... probably everyday back then, I still have the prom dresses with the netting, the wedding dress and a few other outfits. They were all handed down to my younger sister and I was VERY lucky that she took very good care of my things and my mom set aside the proper dolls/toys when we moved out on our own. It was easy for her tell which originally were mine because my sister and I are 9 years apart. I love the vintage clothes, I recently bought the nurse outfit, stewardess outfit and the barbieQ apron with the cooking utensils--ADORABLE. Always looking for vintage barbie stuff--its a fun hobby.

They have patterns for both in simplicity,mccalls,etc.Wait til joann has their pattern sale for .99 cents.Also check thrift stores for patterns. Kathi

my point about Barbies is this: Even though *I* never bought her another Barbie after the end of her 4th year, and even though I tried to gently discourage other people from doing so, she now, at age 10, has more than 25 Barbies, and 8 Kens. Where did they come from? Other people. You can TELL people not to get her any more, but they still will. By telling people not to, you will only "keep it down to a dull roar." You will not be ABLE to prevent any more from coming in. Someone will either ignore your request, forget it, never hear it, or override it bcs the present is just TOO perfect. So you won't be depriving her for life of new Barbies. You *will* be slowing the tide. Bcs, you see, she's just starting. Barbies today are differnent than when I was a kid (OK, I'm 44, so that was a LONG time ago). When I was a kid, Barbies were expensive. Kids who had 4 were RICH! I thought I was really being indulged when I was given a Skipper. Now, Barbies are $5 to $7. Some are more, but a lot are not. They're an easy gift to buy for b-day parties, etc. And maybe you live w/ a bunch of Grinches, but you don't sound like the sort of person who does--you sound generous and indulgent, and I bet you learned that from the folks around you. That means, all the folks around you are gonna buy indulgent presents for your kid. And a $7 Barbie, or $14 packs of clothes, or $29 cars, are gonna be in your future at every gift-giving occasion. And, the MOMENT aunts, uncles, friends of all ages, etc., realize that she likes Barbies, they are gonna go overboard, right along with YOU. And she's only THREE. Leave some room for "future expansion," and try to establish "controlled growth," is what I'm saying. Then, when he best friend at age 4 insists on getting her a Sleeping Beauty Barbie, bcs she KNOWS (rightly) that your DD will love it, or your future DS wants to get her a Barbie car (bcs he loves cars, and she loves Barbies, he argues--how can you fight that?) you can welcome it enthusiastically into your daughter's room, and not cringe at the idea of trying to shoe-horn it in among all the OTHER stuff that didn't come w/ such love behind it. Drop me a line when she's 10, and tell me whether I was right.

Thank you again everyone. Regarding Barbie Doll, I am passionately against Mattel for promoting eating disorder. Regarding cooking, (for me), cooking without experimentation is like traveling without sightseeing. The shrimp dish preparation and plating � I found very fresh large head-on shrimps in the store. I know shrimps with head are not treated with chemicals. The heads had a lot of roe in them. The problem of cooking large shrimps with the head on the normal way would make the head fall off and all the delicious roe would be lost. The way the shrimps were shaped and grilled prevented that. You just pick up the head and suck all the luscious goodies out. Not everyone has eaten yard-long string beans. The way the beans were plated was to make people appreciate the interesting length of the beans. The pork ribs dish preparation and plating � Sous vide ribs is unbelievable. Imagine Medium done ribs. However, the shape of a slab of pork ribs is difficult to fit in the sous vide cooker. Basically I froze the ribs, wrapped it in plastic bag and using my table saw and sliced it into three two-inch wide strips. That took about 30 seconds. The strips were coiled into a circle, which fitted nicely into the sous vide cooker. With seasoning (Mad Hunky Rub) in the cooker for 24 hours at low temperature, the ribs were truly tender, juicy and flavorful. After the ribs were cooled, they were quickly grilled on very hot charcoal. I did not make the curved shape for the purpose of plating, they came out of the sous vide cooker that way. dcarch