At 3:15 yesterday afternoon, the mannequin dream became a reality. Ashley’s way nicer than I thought she’d be!!! This is so cool too, because you know there’s always the chance that when you see something in person you’ve anticipated for so long that it may not be as nice as you thought and hoped it would be. Her legs are a bit long and spindly, she’s a bit pale, and her feet aren’t so great, but she’s beautiful just the same. Her legs look bigger from the sides. Her calves are bigger than mine, but my thighs are bigger. Most of the budget mannequins don’t have faces nearly as nice as these high-enders do. They definitely didn’t make the faces so gorgeous back when I first wanted a mannequin and I am so, so glad I didn’t get one back then just to pay twice as much for something not nearly as nice. She just seems so unbelievably tall! Especially since she’s so skinny. I thought I’d come up to her chin, but I’m barely to her shoulders. She’s actually 6’ tall because she’s up on her toes. I’m amazed her inseam is only 29”. She’s skinnier than me, but bigger at the same time. Her shoulders are wider and her hands are bigger. Her feet, however, are quite narrow.

Another thing that’s better than I expected is the seams. I really thought the shoulder joints and other seams would be more visible, but they’re actually pretty tight. Not that I have a problem with it, but they’re full of shit when they say she’s fiberglass. She’s plastic. At least that’s what she seems to be made of, but this is what makes her so lightweight and much cheaper. Most mannequins weigh about 40 pounds, but I think this one is 25 pounds. How these things survive stores what with the way kids are so damn unruly is beyond me!

Because this rat isn’t bad with chewing, I moved Ashley out of the bedroom and into the living room. Right now she’s wearing a black bra with colored sequins and a matching G-string. I put a necklace and a bracelet on her, too. Some of her fingers are separated so she can wear rings, but the only ring I own right now is my wedding band. I’m just not the jewelry fanatic most women are.

It’s hard to believe this thing is cheaper than some of my porcelain dolls, but a lot more work goes into making porcelains as opposed to mannequins.

Her fingernails were a dull coral color, so I re-polished them in metallic pink. I’ll leave her dark red toes as they are because they’re going to eventually be covered by black pumps. Or at least mostly covered with strappy sandals.

The blond wig looks ok on her, but the coppery one looks better. It matches her eyebrows and goes better with her overall coloring. I’ve never seen such quality wigs. They did such a good job at making the part look like there’s skin on the scalp and not a net.

I’d say the sculpture is as realistic as the Playboys. They even did a good job on her belly button. Although her ears are pierced, I see no reason to put earrings on her because the hair would only cover them. She’s so tall that I had to use the step stool just to put on the wig!

Tom and I joked that if we both died and the owner or handyman came in to remove our stuff, they would certainly be like, “What the hell?” I sure do have a wide variety of dolls now! Everything from Barbie to Playboys, from Tonners to porcelains, and now a mannequin.

Now that I’ve seen Ashley, I’ve decided that rather than get two more standing mannequins, I’d like to have just one more sitting one, and I’ve already got one picked out! Her name is Rebecca and she’s another high-ender, so she’ll cost $250 with shipping. I’m so excited about getting her that if getting her meant I could never get any other dolls ever again, that’d be just fine with me! I’m estimating I can get her sometime in June. She comes with an 18” stool and measures 33-24-35. She sits up at 4’ 6”, almost my height. She appears to have dark hazel eyes like Ashley, though they may be a bit lighter and bluish. Just like they did with Ashley, it looks like they did an excellent makeup job on her. Her lips are red like Ashley’s and I sort of wish they were pink, but I guess red is more popular. The eyelashes aren’t as phony-looking as I thought they’d be either. Ashley came wearing a little foam mask to protect them, and her body parts were in bubble bags that were buried in foam-packing pellets.

I’ll probably put Rebecca in the bedroom. I wouldn’t want the rat to be able to get to her because she’d jump up on her lap and chew her clothes, that little devil!

Anyway, if this thing looks as realistic as it does, then I can just imagine how truly realistic those silicone dolls would look! That, however, will be forever just a dream unless I ever win big money. Like 50 grand or so after taxes. It’s one thing to pay $250 for something that could last a lifetime, but another to pay 7 grand for something that’ll last just 5-10 years.

I’ve readjusted my shopping list so that if we end up broke within the next year, I can at least get the things I want most. I’ve got the Barbies and Tonners towards the end of my list so if I get them, great. But if not, that’s fine, too. For now, I’m just going to concentrate on a couple of pairs of shoes and wigs so that the mannequins can have 4 different hair colors, blond, copper, red and black. Then I want to try incense from a site that orders from Incense Galore and says they have no problem with them in their testimonials. They have some of my favorites, as well as a $7 coyote face. I’d prefer an entire taxidermy animal like a fox or a coyote, but they’re too expensive and not a high priority. I also want to eventually get Seasons 2 & 3 of Charlie’s Angels, bras, undies, a few clothing items from a catalog we’ve got, and this cute yet sexy angel figurine.

Tom read a headline saying that it finally rained on Phoenix for the first time in 143 days. I hope some of that rain has some very poisonous fumes in it and settles upon a few houses in particular!