You like antique dolls?

What a coincidence! We have some antique Japanese dolls here just waiting to be traded for something really interesting. Drop us a line or send us some comments. We would love to know what you have to trade. We are in the Midwest and will be traveling out west in May. I have a feeling these dolls will not be here much longer.
















Happy trails, friends!

~Heather xoxox

The dolls and my brain farts

I'm having some real thinking brain farts about these dolls. Am I partial to giving them (trading) up vs. keeping them? Maybe. The fact is they are lovely. I don't care if they aren't highly desired by antique collectors. Believe me I have written dealers all over the country, written local and national papers, and even posted these dolls on Craigslist in Austin and Houston to take them with me over the holidays when we were there. I have had some people interested, but no offers I felt were the right trade for the dolls. I'm having fun with this still and not ready to give it up. When the right trade comes along I will know it.

If you are interesting in making a trade please, let us know!

Love and adventure,
Heather xoxox

Guys and dolls

We made a short video about the lovely Hina dolls! I hope you enjoy it! We are still very excited about the upcoming trade for the dolls and are trying to get the word out about them. Heather is making a Squidoo about them and learning some other skills to help get some attention to this blog. These antique hina matsuri Japanese dolls are so precious.

~Cliff, Heather, and boys (<=

New photos of the Antique Hina Dolls

To show our renewed commitment to trading the Hina dolls we have new photos to share. And we have the dolls at our house now. I'm hoping to spread the word to anyone out there who is interested in these dolls. We're planning to write all the Japanese steakhouses in our area to see if they are interested in making a trade. Thank you Julia and family for holding the dolls for us for so long. And thanks for your enthusiasm! Happy days to all! (See posts below for more info about the dolls.)


~The Brown family

The dolls are still up for trade

Anyone out there wondering about the dolls (see posts below for info and photos)? They are still up for trade. Please feel free to e-mail us if you are interested and have a decent trade to offer, or questions. brownsplus2@yahoo.com

Have a great day!! ;)

Antique Japanese Hinamatsuri Dolls for trade

Thank you, Julia for this lovely trade!! This is the info Julia gave me about her 15 antique dolls:
These dolls are purchased by grandparents for the granddaughters for the cultural doll festival. They were brought here by a teacher during the 30's or 40's. My family handled the estate sale of this teacher in 1986 or 87.

The trade includes the glass case they are in.

Here are a few links for info about the doll festival in Japan:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinamatsuri
http://japanese.about.com/library/weekly/aa022501a.htm

We are very excited about this trade and know someone will be very thrilled to trade for these. Thanks so much again, Julia! We hope you like the tent!! The raft had a hole so that is why we only trade the tent.

Bus on hold

It would be really awesome to have a bus! But maybe it was not meant to be afterall. Cliff will be serving in Iraq for the Navy as of July. Thank you to everyone who has helped us get this far. We really appreciate all your kindness!!

The kids and I will be hitting the highway when our house sells. We will buy some sort of trailer to pull with our minivan with some of the equity from selling our house. Cliff may be able to take some adventures with us before he leaves in July for training to go to Iraq.

Thanks, friends!!

Tent and raft still up for trade

I am surprised no one has taken these yet. I think between the holidays and lack of need for these items this time of year is the reason. I have them listed on Craigslist and twice on ebay for trade. I (Heather) had a dream the other night a friend loaned us an RV. Maybe it is a sign? Happy Holidays all!!

The Great Outdoors: Tent and raft to trade

We know someone will have a lot of outdoor fun with these items for our next trade:
~ used once CB 5300 Columbia Bugaboo 4-5 person tent
~ newer Sea Sense inflatable raft with 4 oars. The raft can hold two adults or a total of 440 lbs. Do you have something bigger or better to trade?

Tent and water raft with oars

We made our 4th trade today at a McDonald's in Bethany, Missouri--about 80 miles from us. Tawnya lives near Kansas City, MO and met us there with her mom, who came just for fun. We had a nice visit inside the restaurant and then made the trade in the parking lot. It was a chilly and windy day. But it was so fun to finally meet Tawnya and make our trade. She was very happy with the antique china. And I am equally happy with the tent and raft. I will assemble the tent this week, as soon as it gets a little warmer, so I can take some photos of it. I'll inflate the raft as well for photos. The raft is large enough for several adults.

Tawnya is going to start some bartering of her own for a horse trailer. I am so excited for her! She is a very nice and kind person. She wished us well on our journey and is very excited for us. She wished she could travel all over in an RV with her kids when they were younger. Now both her boys are young men. She gets our dream and supports it. Even the homeschooling part. It is nice to be understood!

I'll try to get more photos posted by Wednesday. :)

~Heather

Coming Soon: tent and raft with oars

We're as excited as always about the next trade: A large 2-3 person inflatable sea surf raft with oars; a 4 person tent. This trade will take place around Nov. 18th. Full details and photos will be disclosed after the trade.

We're trading the two antique serving dishes from Sarah in Pennsylvania plus the vintage martini set from Tess in Kansas for the tent and raft from Tawnya in Missouri.

This should be fun. Thanks again for all the support and enthusiasm!!!

~Heather and guys

Victoria Austria serving china

The antique serving platter and serving dish with lid arrived safely today!! And Sarah in Pennsylvania received her plates too. We traded through the mail (so to speak) since we are hundreds of miles apart. She found us through a trade listing on ebay we made.

These are photos we just took of the china up for trade. As you can see it is lovely!!! Sarah received her china via DHL this afternoon. And this afternoon I received the china she sent via UPS. The ebay listing I made was for local pick up only and Sarah still replied and insisted on paying to have the plates shipped to her. It worked out well. We each had the items professionally packaged and had the items in a box inside a box. LOL. She sent hers items in two seperate boxes (so four boxes total for the items she mailed). I also listed the plates and martini set on Craigslist in Des Moines. I never received any interest at all. Ebay is working well. I've always had great luck with people I deal with on ebay! Sarah was another good one!!!

I took these photos outside in what sun was left this afternoon. The china is gorgeous beyond belief for how old they are (at least 60 or more years?). The details are astonishing! More photos and info to come within a few days. In the meantime, please see the previous post for more details and photos.

More Victoria Austria China on the way

We're on an antique roll and we're not complaining!Sarah from Pennsylvania contacted me and our trade will be complete at the end of the week. I will post again this weekend to confirm all went well and I'll explain how we exchanged items. She only needed the plates. So we still have the martini set. We'll work that into a trade somehow. Her story is very interesting and I don't think she'll mind if I share it here. This is part of an email she sent today in regard to our upcoming trade:

"This is great. Many years ago, my aunt gave me her mother's(my grandmother) china. It was missing 2 soup bowls and 1 coffee cup to be a set of 12. I then broke 4 plates. I had them mended but they are only for show not use. Over the many years I have found the soup bowls and coffee cup but not the plates. In searching, I had picked up the platter and covered veggie which I am sending you. I already had them in the orginal set. My grandmother as a child was indentured to a fine family where she cared for their children and her own younger brother. They gave her the china when she left their service. So you can see why I wanted to complete the set."

The history of antiques are so intriguing to me now more than ever! If all goes well with our trade we'll have an antique Victoria Austria serving platter and a matching covered serving dish to offer as our next trade. These items are the same pattern the plates were and the plates must be quite old and hard to find. It seems a miracle she found the plates and it was meant to be! The photos were sent to me via email from Sarah. Hopefully I'll have a photo of Sarah and her items to add this week.

All our joy,
Heather and family

Antique china with a martini anyone?

This trade includes:
~ 10 lovely Victoria Austria antique porcelain dinner plates (9.5" in diameter). Each plate has the Victoria Austria emblem on the back. The plates have pink flowers with blue ribbons on them. These have been well cared for. They've never been washed in a dishwasher and are just beautiful. There is some minor wear and one has a very small chip.
~ Vintage martini set from 1950s with an Asian design--6 glasses with a glass and gold plated shaker and golden spoon. The shaker has a spout with a lid. Some of the photos make the shaker look tarnished. It is not. The martini glasses show some wear on the design but no cracks or chips.

Someone pinch us! Not only did Tess drive here all the way from Kansas to pick up the tub, she brought her lovely antique china as well as a really cool vintage martini set!

The china is absolutely gorgeous! Photos do not do either of these items justice! For instance, the gold rims on these items does not show up very well. On the martini glasses and shaker there's an Asian woman praying or bowing on each that is not clear in in my amatuer photos.

We couldn't wait to ask Tess what she was going to do with the antique tub. She says she and her husband are going to put it in the 1930s farmhouse they are renovating. She seems as excited about the tub as we are about her trade items! Hooray for Tess!!! A million thanks to Tess! And to Karen L. for trading the tub to us!!

Before Tess left she told us she hopes we get our bus. She said she was happy to be a part of our journey. She was very awesome!!! I (Heather) couldn't help but give her a hug and thank her for coming all this way and for the gorgeous items she gave us for the bath tub. We're very happy with the experience and have absolutely no regrets. It was a win/win situation and we met a really cool person too! The boys were thrilled with the china and martini set too! As soon as we brought it in the house they wanted to see everything. Priceless!

If anyone out there is interested in these items, please let us know. We'd love to include your choice of ingredients to make yourself a tasty martini, so you can use the really fabulous vintage martini set. Maybe we'll just have a martini with you, if you'd like! Cheers!


All our joy,
The Brown family

Quick update

If all goes according to plan we will be making a trade with Tess this coming Saturday or Sunday. We are very thrilled and looking forward to meeting Tess. She's from Kansas and has 10 antique china plates to trade for the bath tub. We'll post an update after the trade. Wish us luck and may Tess have a safe journey to Iowa and back.