For many, the school bell ringing marked the end of summer, not only in Clarkston but the district I live in.
As my son hasn’t turned 3-years-old and isn’t in preschool yet, to me the end of summer isn’t marked by the beginning of school.
The beginning of fall sports marks where summer ends as it’s then I am no longer thinking summer but penciling games on the calendar and in the planner.
Last Friday was the first of nights filled with games. During the summer I was spending mere hours on Friday nights purging my childhood of Barbie stuff and before games started we finally held a garage sale. A good majority of Barbieland from the 1980s and early 1990s is gone.

The orange and yellow Dream House – gone. It was sold as my husband had it laid out in pieces and was scrubbing all the dirt away. The buyer wanted the furniture which came with the house, but the pieces I could remember original to the house had sold. It wasn’t much and I couldn’t exactly remember what came with the house – I was five- or six-years-old when Santa Claus left it in our living room one Christmas morning.
The person who bought the house also bought the whole bin of Barbie clothes – over 160 outfits as many matched as possible by memory in sandwich bags. Those I couldn’t remember, I asked for help from others to create their own outfit mixes.
Another person came back twice. She bought a few dolls on the first visit. Then, she came back because I had the Heart Family, which Mattel released in the 1980s which included a mom, a dad and two children. Plus, I also had the grandparents and a few items from the Heart Family line like the swing set, family car with car seats and camper. She couldn’t get out of her head and came back for them.
Plus, she bought more. I also gave her the Barbie Mask Shop, she was an elementary drama teacher and was so excited to see all the masks. I knew she and her kids would have fun with it.
Though it was hard to let go of a lot of the items her excitement and others made it easier as they would enjoy it.
Barbie, Skipper, Ken dolls- half were sold. Actually a lot of male dolls in the first hour. A teacher needed them for her classroom. Awesome, I had something you needed. I was fearful not much would sell.
On the last day, there was one girl I remember. She jumped out of her mom’s vehicle holding her doll and went right up to the wooden doll crib my dad made.
Then, she grabbed three Barbie dolls. She ended up with a friend of Kelly doll new in the box and asked if I would take $2 – she was so sweet. I said yes and told her to grab another doll from the bin. (She grabbed Kelly). She was sweet. I say this because one person asked to take less but I sensed she was a dealer and would just mark it up in price.
There is still a ton of Barbie dolls left, if you need some.

  Barbie, Barbieland, garage sale