The Patels Plan a Party in their Plasco rancher...

Saturday morning finds Rashmi Patel watering the peonies she planted in the window boxes of the new house that her wonderful husband Praket bought for their family. Praket doesn't like to work in the yard, but just for her, he planted some cedar bushes and boxwoods in the small alcove in front.
Rashmi loves her new ranch style house and how she has it decorated. She is thinking how wonderful it would be if a home magazine would ask to do a photo shoot .....

She can picture it now..................

Later she joins Praket lounging under their covered patio.

"Praket, my dear," says Rashmi, "We have lived here several months, and I think it is time to have a party in our new home!"

"That's a very good idea, my sweet wife," says Praket.

Rashmi asks, "What kind of party do you think we should have?"

"If you plan it, I will enjoy it!" answers Praket.

While little Sajani Patel plays on the patio with her dolly, and Praket watches the news on their new Plasco TV, Rashmi is deciding what to serve at the big party she is planning. Should she have cake or cookies, fresh fruit or......decisions, decisions, decisions! What kind of party is she planning?

LOOK! It's a birthday party for little Sajani who is turning 4 today! Papa Praket holds baby Naija so mommy can light the candles on the cake she made for the party. I see the Nielsens and the Blakelys have joined their children to help little Sajani celebrate....and also for a little crowd control. Oh, there is little Rueben Gonzalez standing on a chair. I hope he doesn't fall.

Little Sajani has her best bud Lars sit at the table with her while she blows out her candles. She hopes he doesn't blow the candles out for her like her friend Drew did for his big sister Jill. And where are the other two candles that should be on her cake? Did Lars take them while she wasn't looking? He's a jokester, that Lars!

While Sajani is opening presents from her little friends, her mom and dad bring in the best gift of all....her very own Keystone of Boston dollhouse!

WOW! Won't she and her friends have fun with it!

Dollhouse manufactured by Plastic Art Toy Corporation (Plasco) around 1950. This one is missing it's TV antenna and front porch. All the furniture, with the exception of the lamps in the bedroom, was made by Plasco. The Keystone dollhouse was made by Keystone Mfg late 1940's for "trains sets, floor and table, and Xmas trees". Did you notice that the Patel and Nielsen adult dolls are the same, just different coloring and clothes? Most likely an import from 70's era.

Sunshine award~~~thank you, Victoria!

Victoria of Little Boxes, http://vika-m.blogspot.com/, honored me yesterday with this Sunshine Award..........I'm to share it with 6 other bloggers who bring sunshine to my life.



Hard task! I follow many blogs that make my days much brighter, but here are some that I always find enjoyable.....
The very first dollhouse blog I discovered last summer was http://rebeccascollections.blogspot.com . Rebecca has a great collection of vintage dolls houses from many countries and shares so much information...plus her little stories are very entertaining!
Nicola at http://pueppilottchens-spielzeug-blog.blogspot.com loves Lundby houses, Caco people, and Kathy Kruse dolls, but her blog heading sums it up for all of us with "she's still playing"!
http://diepuppenstubensammlerin.blogspot.com has a very unique blog with her collection of 1950-70's German dollhouses that are new to me and totally fascinating.
Liz at http://thedollshousediaries.blogspot.com has a wonderful collection of vintage English houses...she doesn't blog often, but when she does, it is well worth the wait.
From Canada is Susan, http://susanshouses.blogspot.com , whose joy with her little houses spills over into every blog she posts.
And I can't forget Amy at http://amysminiaturesandsmalls.blogspot.com who is fairly new to blogging but always makes us laugh at her little "peeps" that live on Lundby Lane.
AND, if you haven't checked out Victoria's Little Boxes, please do. She is building a traditional Russian style dolls house with the most exquisite windows ever seen! Thank you, Victoria, for sharing this award with me. :)

Return to childhood...

Santa brought my first dollhouse in 1948 when I was 4 1/2. It was a Keystone of Boston tudor style dollhouse. It looked just like this one below. :)

I looked like this in Spring, 1949. That's my big sister Charlene on the left and my wonderful mom who picked out this great dollhouse and all of the furnishings for her two girls. Even though it was a gift for both of us, it was always considered my dollhouse.

When I was 13, my dollhouse went to live with some other little girls; I hope they enjoyed it as much as my sister and I did. Mom kept 3 items from our little house....I have 2 of them in this house. Look for the Renwal sewing machine in the bedroom and the pink and blue chair in the nursery. I remember picking out the chair at Woolworths before I started to school; they came in several color combinations, but I liked the pink and blue the best. The other item Mom kept was the Renwal radio; my sister has that. :)

The furniture in this little house is just like I had in my little house. I've added accessories, but otherwise it's just like the dollhouse I played with 60 years ago.

In this house live the Ballou family....Mr. Ballou, Mrs. Ballou, Buddy Ballou, Gail Ballou and little Sweetness Ballou (so named to counter-act Evil Baby who lives on Lundby Lane in Amy's Miniatures and Smalls blog).

I see that Mrs. Ballou set the table for dinner before she rushed off to the store to get milk for Baby Sweetness.

Mr. Ballou is sitting by the fire listening to the radio. He wants to have a talk with his son so he calls out, "Buddy! Buddy! I need to talk with you before dinner. I'm in the living room. Buddy! Come now!" Wonder where Buddy is.....

He's not in the nursery with Gail and Baby Sweetness.......

He's not in the bathroom either..........

He's not in his parent's bedroom, but their dog Pug is there. Pug has his ears up. Did he hear mom opening a bottle of milk....better go down and check that out.

Oh look, Buddy is there talking with Dad. Dad tells him, "Son, I don't ever want to see you wearing a lime green suit again! Especially with a red tie!"

Yes, there is Mrs. Ballou warming milk for Baby Sweetness.....and Pug hoping he will get lucky!

Mrs. Ballou hears the doorbell ring and wonders who could be coming to visit. She calls out to Mr. Ballou asking him to answer the door. Wonder who is there....

OMG, it's President Obama!! It's their lucky day!!