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Great at Eight: Tool Set for a Girl who Wanted to Build

Happy Birthday Card when I turned 8.
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Happy Birthday Card when I turned 8.

On the occasion of celebrating an Orange Tuesday Birthday, I went into the archives for this birthday card with a whimsical orange giraffe.  My mother neatly wrote what my gifts were inside the card.  I don’t remember the dress, but I remember the tool set.

You're 8.  That's Great!
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You’re 8. That’s Great!

I found the dollhouse I made with this tool set at age 8.  My father supervised as I hammered together scraps of plywood.  The wallpaper in the kitchen may be a scrap of the wallpaper from our actual kitchen.  The stove is an empty vanilla pudding box.  That is an orange light switch on the right.

Kitchen in the Dollhouse
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Kitchen in the Dollhouse of the 1970’s

The wallpaper in the living room came from our neighbor Mrs. Firth.  The loopy orange carpet was found in many parts of our full size house.  Can you tell it was the Seventies?  I created a pastel bookcase and just noticed the row of love poems across the top shelf, which is in counterpoint to the rather forlorn spool person facing the wall.  I feel like interrupted a serious conversation.

Living Room in the Dollhouse of the 1970's
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Living Room in the Dollhouse of the 1970’s

I don’t remember playing with dolls inside this house, but only the process of creating the building, and furnishing the rooms. In a journal from grade 3, I describe building a yard for the dollhouse out of Lego. The dollhouse was my world to bring forth.

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