Banking On Barbie
Suzanne Robertson has found salvation in a pink box, and its name is Barbie.
“I’m hoping she’ll take care of me in my old age,” the 46-year-old Rathdrum dog groomer says as she thumbs through a catalogue of Barbie collectibles.
Other people sink their savings into T-bills and retirement funds. But untouchable accounts don’t excite or motivate Suzanne the way the bosomy blonde doll does.
Suzanne can satisfy her need to spend her poodle-cut earnings and save for her future at the same time.
“I’ve never been able to save,” she says, carefully stepping over the boxed dolls and accessories in her storeroom. “This seemed like something I could do.”
She’s off to an ambitious start. In her first 18 months as a collector, Suzanne has bought Scarlet O’Hara Barbie in green velvet and five other outfits copied from the movie “Gone With The Wind.”
She has Desert Storm Barbie and Ken in khaki camouflage and burgundy berets. She couldn’t pass up Elizabethan Queen Barbie (sans the bald head) or Earring Magic Ken, which one catalog refers to as the first gay Ken.
And those are just for starters. Suzanne admits now that some of her early purchases were a tad hasty. Her Caboodles Barbie won’t appreciate in value much because Mattel made millions of them.
The idea, she understands now, is to buy the rare models, like her Snow Princess Barbie. Only 240 were made. It’s worth $2,000 as long as it never leaves its box.
So she’s selling off several hundred dolls this weekend to make room and money for the more valuable models.
Barbie has played a role in Suzanne’s life since 1959 when the first dolls hit the market. She fully expects a payoff someday, but her investment is emotional as well as financial.
“I’ve never had a hobby,” she says as she drools over the new Spiegel Barbie that just arrived in the mail. “I’m pretty attached to some of these.”
Suzanne and her mother-in-law will sell boxed Barbies and accessories at a yard sale Saturday and Sunday at 8825 N. Atlas Road. Prices will range from $10 to $1,500.
Arty party
The end of seven years of work is worth a big party, especially when the final product is the Coeur d’Alene Cultural Center. If your invitation got lost, the party’s all afternoon Sunday in City Park with art, crafts and science exhibits inside the center, entertainment in the Rotary Band Shell and food and fun in the park.
Everything but the food is free. This is your chance to check out the tasteful old brick railroad substation that’s been closed to the public for decades.
Recycled remedies
It’s Marcy Horner’s job to keep Kootenai Medical Center’s library on the cutting edge. So she cleans out every publication after its seventh birthday. But Marcy doesn’t send her stacks to the medical incinerator. She packs them in neat packages for doctors and hospitals in Africa and China.
She wanted to send some to Bosnia, but heard that nothing there is getting delivered by ground.
She’s OK
Life in middle school isn’t as terrifying as Hayden’s Natalia Brown expected. Remember Natalia? She’s the Hayden 10-year-old who thought she’d spend the first day of school stuffed in someone’s locker (she didn’t).
Since she told her story a month ago, Natalia has decided Canfield Middle School is a pretty cool place, except for the homework. Maybe turning 11 this month gave her a new outlook …
Who do you want to hear more about? Tell Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene, ID, 83814; FAX to 765-7149; or call 765-7128 and jog my memory.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo