Movin' on up

The new Dream house

Our Barbie "dream" house had served its time.
By my calculations, it's done more than 30 years with my children, our grandchildren and various visitors putting dolls to bed in it, serving meals in its kitchen and holding weddings for Barbie and Ken.
I've repaired and rebuilt it at least a dozen times, sticking the little plastic pillars and cardboard layers back together and catching it when a tot pulled it over.
I hot-glued it to the wall more than once and considered junking it many times.
But the little girls loved it and I have a hard time tossing something that still serves a purpose.
It had three floors and a roof and a working elevator (that hung by a string that hooked into a notch on the side to secure it when it wasn't dismantled by a little one).
Over the years, we've accumulated a fair amount of furniture to go in it, some homemade, some store bought. It's been moved all around and propped up from behind by a huge piece of poster board.
So when Marc saw the new one for sale at Costco, he was sold.
And I'll admit, it didn't take much to talk me into spending $100 for it.

Marc on his knees

We brought the box home and proceeded to build.
Who knew that inside that big box were lots of small pieces made in China?
What looked like a night's work turned into a two-day project that required drilling and math and patience.
The screws were color-coded and the pieces were numbered. The little shutters closed and opened. The chandelier hung from a wooden knob.
The plan followed a logical order.
Never mind that it was a Chinese logic: walls up and roof on first THEN you put in the shutters, the stairs and the doors...when it's impossible to reach them.
It took us not only some time but some bending and stretching that old people shouldn't be doing.

Victory is mine! A happy man

But now we have a 3-story doll house with a working lamp, a player piano and a toilet that makes a flushing sound. It has a winding staircase and a garden plot with a working gate. The new gliding elevator is string-free.

It's a masterpiece and we can't wait for the grandkids to check it out.
We've been playing with it since we finished.