Wednesday, September 14, 2011

kitties and ed ugs



suki has two new cat friends. one is a small green hello kitty (he clips on to things!). the other is a sweet, little knit cat we found at an antique shop. suki named both of the cats herself. the green hello kitty is called george, and the knit cat is called boocha (most likely inspired by the beverage kombucha). boocha was made here in grand rapids, michigan by a company called mrs. ryan's. i did a small amount of research and found that mrs. ryan's stuffed animals were made in rutland, vermont as well. 



one of my biggest fears is bed bugs; i can barely even type it. this is why, although i love shopping at antique and second hand shops, i almost never allow myself to do it. a while back while cousins hillery and matt were in town, we went around to a few shops, and that is when we first spotted boocha. we did not buy her then because the man working was grumpy and we did not want to do business with him. after a few months went by, i was still thinking about this little cat so i thought i would go back just to see if she was still there and she was! the man working was nice that day too, so we brought her home. the first thing i did was open her up to make sure she looked clean on the inside. thankfully there was nothing scary hiding inside but still i washed her with hot water then dried her completely in the dryer on high heat, i then did that a second time. i don't feel nervous about the bb thing now, but for the first few days i was loosing sleep wondering if i did the right thing bringing this cat home. what precautions do you take when shopping for preowned things? any tips?

10 comments:

  1. I have the same fears, and I love shopping at second-hand stores. My solution has been to just inspect the hell out of whatever I'm considering in the store, and to wash with heat and even some vinegar when I get my stuff home. I also tend to shop at the same second-hand/antique stores where I trust the owners. Even after all that, I think I've only bought "soft" goods that could be problematic 2 or 3 times ever. Boocha's a great find! I'm glad you went for it.

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  2. Baltimore's bed bug scare last summer has me feeling the same way with second hand stores. I'd love to hear tips.

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  3. I have the same fears every day at work because many of my clients have had or have bed bugs. What I do is just what you did: wash in hot water and throw in the dryer. While it's still hot, you can also close it off in a plastic bag for 3 days to kill anything that may be on the item. You can also use vinegar (like mentioned above) or isopropyl alcohol.

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  4. I had one of those as a child, and found your photos during a search. I'm glad your baby has given one of Mrs Ryan's kitties a new life. I found a few others out there and four of them now reside in a basket on my dresser. I did wash them in hot water, first.

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    1. she is one of our favorite toys. it's nice to hear you had such great memories of this toy. it really is a special one.

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  5. hi! i was just peeking around to see if i could find any info on mrs. ryan's knitted toys (i found one and i'm honestly not sure what it is... maybe a dinosaur?) & i found you. i'm pals with sara bakker (& she has shown me this site before) and thought it was nice to find another local interested in these funny toys.

    here's what mine looks like: https://www.etsy.com/listing/108048846/vintage-mrs-ryans-hand-knitted-toy

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    1. I also have one of Mrs. Ryan's kittys. She is only 5" tall. Wearing the same little red checked dress. I have had her for a few years now. I would like to know her value?

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    2. the one we found was 13$, and she is about 8". these are so fun! we still love ours.

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  6. Hi! Since my birth in 1970... I have precious knitted cat in a beautiful red and white plaid dress with a yellow bow at the neck; lovely yellow knitted trim around the short sleeves and above the hem line. My darling kitty has a matching plaid under garment minus the bow and yellow knitted trim. I would love to find a sister or brother for my baby girl. Samantha

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  7. Would you consider selling the cat? My husband had one that was stolen from him. It was given to him at birth and we have been on a long search.

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