How to Clean a Plastic Doll

Have you ever encountered a grimy doll that makes you immediately wash your hands after looking at it?

 Or your daughter/niece/daughter of a friend hands you her best friend while she goes outside and you want to stick a quarantine sign on it?  

Maybe even send it to a detoxification lab for research.

Fear not, there is an easy solution to cleaning a plastic doll without running to the store or buying expensive cleaning kits.

Supplies:

• Baking Soda
• Cotton Swabs (I prefer these, but a brush, cotton balls or soft rags work too)
• Soft Cotton Cleaning Rags
• A Container to put the Baking Soda in
• A Container to put Water in 
• A Clean Space
• Patience
• A Plastic Doll (preferably dirty)

Steps: 

You should probably get a new cotton swab when it looks like this.

Step 1: Find a dirty spot on the doll and  dampen the area with a wet cotton swab (Sometimes I skip this step, but I found it helps spread out the baking soda especially over a large area).

Step 2: Dip a wet cotton swab into the baking soda and scrub the area. Change the cotton swabs when necessary.

Step 3: When the area looks fairly clean, wipe the area with a dampened rag or cotton swab. It doesn't matter what you use as long as you're wiping off the baking soda.

Step 4: Dry the area with a clean, dry rag. 

 Step 5: Repeat as necessary.

Tips:

• Best used for 18 inch dolls, Barbie dolls, baby dolls, and anything plastic. You get the idea.

•  DO NOT submerge the doll in water unless it is made for that sort of thing.

• Be careful when cleaning around the doll's eyes, especially if the eyes open and close. Too much water can damage the mechanism inside.

•  After drying the doll, you might feel baking soda still clinging to the doll's face or hair. Wipe it away with the clean drying cloth as best as possible.

• Keep the doll out after the washing to let it dry if it's a little damp.

• Marker and other stains MAY come out through perseverance and multiple washings

My doll, Amy, after a complete scrubbing

PS. I am not a doll expert; I take no responsibility for anything that happens if someone follows these steps.

"Roomies" is Awkward

At my college there's this event called "Roomies." Once upon a time, in a galaxy far far away, it was meant to be more of a friend's-hangout event.

Here's how it works: 
Person A wants to go on an outing with Person B, so he/she asks his/her roommate, Person C, to ask Person B for him/her. It's supposed to be really showy and public; whoever does the best presentation gets some sort of prize.

Guys ask girls in the fall, and girls ask guys in the spring.

It's really sweet when you have a boyfriend or a girlfriend, but it gets awkward when you're "just friends" with someone. Especially when the girls' turn happens to land on the week that Valentine's Day occurs.

This year, I summoned all my courage and asked someone. To protect the innocent (namely the guy), we'll call him "K."

I decided to skip the whole middle person deal and just ask him myself.

Of course it didn't really go as planned. 

 Here is what I'd imagined: 

Disclaimer: I traced over this picture: http://i665.photobucket.com/albums/vv19/yume_mori/Detective%20Conan/ran-and-shinichi-at-a-restaurant-shinichi-wants-to-tell-his-feelings-for-ran.jpg

I would have dressed in fairly nice clothes, done my hair, and I was working on a picture of both of us walking together somewhere to give to him. The setting would have been fairly peaceful, and I wouldn't freak out.

But no.

Here's how it really turned out:

I started to have second thoughts, and then I got this email:

 

Oh good. I don't see K much the rest of the day, or tomorrow. And that might be too late. 

So . . .

The tiny chapel never seemed so large before.

K kept walking faster.

I felt like Jason Bourne running after him . . . and where were all these people coming from???

After finally catching up to him by the library . . .

Yes, my entire conversation was one long word.  And there was a lot of mud.

I think he was trying to figure out what I was saying . . .

 

*Disclaimer: This was highly exaggerated for entertainment purposes.