Thank you Greyhaunt for creating and maintaining a comprehensive forum for all dolls and their owners. Thank you for updating the captcha verification. Thank you, K-2 for the vinyl crash course via PMs on DoA (where me met) and helpful links. It's so lucky to have made a connection on many fronts. Thank you, Hunchback for the immediate approval. I was hopeful to be able to access and share on the forum as a member by the end of the week. What a pleasant surprise! Thanks to all the forum staff and members for making this a lively forum. I only wish I had found this forum years ago.
I've always liked dolls. A doll was my first possession. I carried around a Jesmar type baby doll for the longest time until it was deemed I was 'too old'. She was life-scale and anatomically correct. My aunt collected Barbies, and that was always a gift I looked forward to each holiday and birthday. I still have a few in boxes that were gifts from her in in the early 90's. Life happened, but I've always liked to see realistically styled dolls or those that had a unique design. Once my career was established and I started to have some free time to myself to enjoy as an adult, I began building a 1:12 scale dollhouse. I wanted to find a doll, not a static figure to occupy my dollhouse. Searching scaled dolls led me to images of BJDs. They were way beyond my budget, but I loved to see them. It reignited my love of dolls and I desired to own one. In 2010, I was gifted some cash to buy myself a gift. I won an auction on eBay for a second-hand BJD! Sadly, the seller decided they were going to keep my money and sell the doll to a friend..... it took a significant amount of time going through the dispute process....
That somewhat ruined my enthusiasm for BJDs. I did end up finding a Heidi Ott doll for my dollhouse though. 
For four years I couldn't help but keep a BJD in my wish-list. It was nice to look at the promo pics for him. He was a Popodoll 68cm Chen sculpt. My career progressed and that allowed me a much more comfortable budget. I sold my old car when I was able to upgrade to a nicer, more reliable vehicle and I had no plans for the funds. Both my in-laws had lived in our home for a few years at the end of their life. They had both passed away from long-term illnesses. I didn't realize how much time I spend with them until they were gone. It was time for a hobby, to do something really nice for myself. I thought it over for awhile, because it felt silly spending SO MUCH on a doll.... but I finally decided I had adulted enough that I could allow myself something nice, even if I didn't 'need' it.
The biggest surprise I found about owning dolls made for adults is how active the hobby community is! Wow! Immediately after ordering my Popodoll, it was time to refresh my memory on BJD care and maintenance. I remembered my membership on the big BJD forum and searched around a bit and stumbled upon the meetup area. To my surprise, there were active members in my state of Kentucky! I was invited to a meetup by a couple of them and they assured me it was great, if not perhaps better to attend a meetup before my doll arrived home. I waited 5 months for my doll to arrive but the time went by just fine as I was able to form friendships with other local owners and learn tips and tricks for caring for the dolls. One of the ladies even gifted me a head in the meantime and encouraged me to try faceups. Those first few tires were horrible. Since then I had the pleasure of attending two conventions in St. Louis and joined the UFDC (United Federation of Doll Clubs) as a member-at-large.
My resin collection now includes 16 resin BJDs and various other types of dolls. I have a dozen of the Jesmar and Jesmar type babies. I plan to attempt to catalog and identify the markings and match them to companies. I found reborns fascinating. I rehabbed a Tibby sculpt by Bountiful Baby myself. I have 2 other kits, also Bountiful Baby kits. The first I bought, but the last that will be 'reborned' is Ladybug. Ashley Awake kit is currently with a professional. I found my artist on the artist forum for Bountiful Baby products. I hope the kit will be home within a few weeks so I may complete the doll assembly myself. I'm waiting for my Ashley Awake to come home before Ladybug is sent away. I'm looking forward to seeing them whenever I come home from work, no matter what sort of shift I had.
There are a few resin dolls on my wish-list, but I'm not in a terrible hurry to bring them home. Currently, I have interest in an Obitsu doll. I believe the first will be a 48cm so I can add parts from Angel Philia. If that experiment goes well, I can easily see myself adding a 50cm to the mix.
Some of my resin crew will have some faceups and body blushings this season. My routine requires the majority of a day to do this, so I am looking forward to my next free weekend to stay home and complete a doll or two. I had other life events last summer, but so far this season has been much lower stress. I'm anticipating the fall of 2019 will give me a significant amount of additional free time at home on my weekends, but that will only happen depending on some other factors.
Thank you all in advance for the warm welcome to the Dollieh Sanctuary. I look forward to chatting with everyone and learning about your dolls.
- Molly
I take forever to plan a doll..... but it keeps me from having an entire house full of them.