Update #5: Tough Decisions

 There comes a time in every plushie owner's life when they have to make a choice that isn't easy. A few months ago I had to make the choice to sell my only fennec fox plushie, in pursuit of one that better fits my standards. Today I have encountered a similar, yet somewhat more challenging, scenario.

So one particular plushie that I've wanted for at least a year is, somehow, just as difficult (if not more so) to find than the elusive silver fox plush. It's the genet plush, and it's been hiding from me for a very long time. In case you're not familiar, a genet is a relatively small cat-like animal which is native to northern Africa and regions of the Middle East and southern Europe. They're about the same size as a housecat, and their tail is the same length as their body. They have spots similar to leopards, and a ringed tail. They're very good at climbing, and they live primarily in forests where they hunt for prey on the ground as well as in trees. Most of all, though, they are absolutely adorable animals, and they don't pose any threats to humans (in fact, they help control rodent populations so they're actually beneficial to have around). I learned about the genet sometime when I was in 6th grade, and they've been one of my favorite animals ever since. So when I discovered in 2021 that Uni Toys makes a genet plush, I was right on top of that. The only problem is, this plush hasn't been available for quite some time.

I spent a good chunk of February desperately trying to find a place which sells a genet plush. Most online websites are out of stock, and after contacting Uni Toys I was informed that it has been out of stock for a long time and they don't know if or when it will be available again. I forgot to write about this back in February, probably because I was struggling with my mental health and I was so frustrated I really didn't have the energy to write about it. I'm honestly glad I didn't, I don't want to bring any negativity to this blog.

Through some help from an online friend I found a store which sells a genet plushie and has them readily available. The only problem is, their store is located in Cape Town, South Africa. For reference, I live in Ohio, US, so that's quite a hike from here. I spoke with the person who runs the store, and she was very friendly and wanted to help, but she had never delivered an item to someone in the US so she was unfamiliar with the processes of the United States Postal System. Unfortunately my search came to a halt with this, because I don't know anything about buying items overseas either (aka filling out customs forms and figuring out shipping costs). Thus I have spent the last month and a half, dreaming of someday owning my very own genet plush.

 


Just look how cute she is though!! I need to bring this lovely baby home!!!

I recently thought about it again, and I decided to get back in contact with the person I initially talked to over email. She gave me some contact info for someone who could possibly help me, but they never replied to my email. After sending her a message thins time, I got an email from someone who said they were graciously willing to ship the plush to me, given that I cover all the costs (of course). 

This is where my problems start, though. See, back in September-January I had a decent amount of money, but over the last few months my family and I have really been struggling financially. I'm still out of work, finding a job is no easy task (especially because I technically have a disability which keeps me from being able to work many popular jobs), and so I've had little or no money for a while now. I've been finding things to sell to make up for other things that I really want, and I'm finding myself in this situation again. If I really want this genet plush, I'm gonna have to find a way to make some money. I've come to the conclusion that the best way for me to make a sizeable amount of money to cover the $30 for the plush, plush however much I need for shipping, would be to sell whatever plushie of mine I care about the least (not that I don't care about them at all, I love all of my plushies, but of course I like some more than others). And that plushie happens to be Zephyr the Husky. 

As you probably know, I got Zephyr back in January. He came all the way from the UK, it took 3 weeks for him to get here, and I paid a handsome $43 for him. I was very excited when he finally got here, since he does look quite a bit like the Webkinz Signature Husky, a highly sought-after plush in the Webkinz community. However I'm noticing, at least compared to my other plushies, that I don't do very much with him at all. He's still in perfect condition, and I find that plushies which are "perfect" tend to simply sit on my shelf since I don't want them to get ruined. Plus, I don't particularly remember what made me think of getting this plushie, since the Signature Husky was honestly never a plush that I was dying to own as a kid, unlike the arctic fox and red panda. And what it really comes down to is, if I had to choose between keeping him, or selling him for a guaranteed $40+ and getting the genet plush, I would really prefer to go with the latter decision.

Ever since I've (at least mostly) overcome my depression I've been on, what I like to call, a "Great Purge." I started to do this a bit last year, and now my desire to get rid of old stuff and/or things I no longer need is much stronger. I'm even starting to feel this way about my old stuffed animals, which is a very weird feeling for me because I've had many of them for 10+ years, but honestly, if they will just sit in a tote for years, then why should I hold onto them when they would likely make another kid very happy? I haven't yet decided to sell any of my old plushies, but it's still a thought floating around in my mind. I've gotten rid of quite a few things, including things I used to believe I still needed, and the more I think about it the more okay I am with listing Zephyr for sale online. There is probably someone out there who would absolutely love to have a Webkinz Signature Husky lookalike, and if selling him means that I make someone happy and I get my beloved genet plush, then it's worth it. 

This blog post kinda turned into a rant/vent, and if you're still reading then I have to applaud you. I would bake you a cake if I knew where you lived and I could give it to you. I think writing these blogs really helps me sort out my thoughts on a matter, and I'm feeling less like it's a tough decision now. Zephyr will always be with us in spirit, and I will continue to draw him along with my other plushies, but the plushie itself will unfortunately have to find a new, loving home. I may think on this decision for a bit longer, because it is still a bit difficult in a way. Making sacrifices is never easy, but sometimes it has to be done.

Goodbye, my lovely boy. You'll never be forgotten...

Blog #16: Evelynn the Red Fox (Webkinz Signature)

 Evelynn the Webkinz Small Signature Red Fox

Name: Evelynn
Gender: Female
Obtained: Dec 2021

Background: I got this plushie right around the same time I got the Webkinz Spotted Spaniel, and it came from Mercari as well. With shipping, the total came to about $22. I remember, many years ago, when one of my friends had this plush. I remember liking it a lot, and I'm not really sure why I never got it as a kid. The only thing I can figure is that it wasn't in any nearby stores, and my parents very rarely bought stuff like this for me online. I actually don't see it listed online very much, and the ones that are listed are either too expensive or they're in poor condition. This one seemed reasonable to me, so I got her.

I've been skeptical about buying this plushie in the past because, while this is a very nicely made fox plushie, what always seemed to get me was the tail. Part of the reason why I love foxes is because of their brush tails, and how they're so fluffy and bushy. This fox's tail is quite small/slim in proportion to her body. But this plushie gets everything else right, notably the coloring. Oddly enough, it's difficult to find really well made fox plushies like this; I've found that it's quite difficult to get plushies from Uni Toys unless it's listed on Amazon, or you actually live in Germany (or somewhere in Europe), and many other high quality red fox plushies I've found are sold out or are no longer available. I figured I would settle for this one, despite having a smaller tail, as if she were a young fox kit (which I don't actually have a problem with, it's just one of my little nitpicks).

The only other bad thing about her is, because she's a Webkinz small signature, she's smaller than all my other regular sized plushies. She's about the same size as Ben and my regular Webkinz, and she's significantly smaller than Alex. Although I usually don't worry about plush sizes too much, I always say bigger is better. But the nice thing about her being so small is that she fits perfectly in my backpack when I go places for long periods of time, and I actually take her with me quite often for this reason. So despite all the things I think could be improved with her, I value her very much as one of my fox plushies.

Personality and Other Stuff: Evelynn is very kind-hearted and caring, but she often gets too involved in the personal lives of others and often gives unsolicited advice. She tends to annoy people with this habit, but she thinks she's being genuinely caring and is quick to apologize for her wrongdoings. She knows that Alex really likes her, but she seems to lead him on a lot and not say anything about how she truly feels. She's not sure if she likes him back, but she values their friendship so she keeps that a secret. She's best friends with Coco Sakura, and they enjoy spending time together by sitting on the couch, watching tv, and gossiping about others.

Fun Fact: Despite the fact that Alex and Evelynn are two totally different sizes, I still see them as being basically the same age/size when I draw them together. Like I said before, I don't worry much about plush sizes since I can choose how big /tall they are when I draw them, though it is kinda weird to have Evelynn sitting next to Alex, who is easily twice her size in plushie form.

Blog #15: Coco Sakura the Spotted Spaniel (Webkinz)

 Coco Sakura the Spotted Spaniel

Name: Coco Sakura (nickname is Coco)
Gender: Female
Obtained: Dec 2021

Background: I stumbled upon this plushie while looking at Webkinz on Mercari. I'm not sponsored by Mercari, nor am I affiliated with them, but I've bought and sold quite a few items on there and it's so easy and convenient to use. It's an especially fantastic place to find gently used plushies, and most of my recent Webkinz purchases have come from Mercari. 

Anyways, the person who was selling this particular plushie had it listed as a "webkinz dog, with pink and brown circles." Obviously looking up the name of the plushie itself would not have yielded this result, so I guess I found it by some stroke of luck. The actual plush is called the Webkinz Spotted Spaniel. Its design and color scheme appealed to me, so for only $5 plus shipping I snatched her up quickly.

She has very quickly become one of my favorite Webkinz that I own. She didn't come with a tag but I get the feeling that she has hardly, if ever, been played with. Her fur is in perfect condition, and the curly fur on her ears and legs is especially soft and bouncy. I've talked before about how Webkinz's later plushies are made really well, and this one is no exception. She sits upright very well, not too stiff, perfectly floppy and cute. After buying this plush and realizing how overjoyed I was to have it, I decided to look into some of their other spaniel plushies, and honestly? This one is the absolute best one in terms of design and quality. I can't put into words how much I love this plushie. She definitely has a new forever home! <3

Personality and Other Stuff: Coco is positively beautiful and radiant, and she knows it. She sometimes comes off as arrogant and uptight because she freely takes compliments without any courtesy. But people don't mind that she can be somewhat of a snob, since she makes up for it by being fun-loving and a jokester. She is best friends with Evelynn, and they often like to gossip to each other about their friends, as well as their personal lives. She's also somewhat of a loaf, and despite having similar interests with Juniper they often clash in what they enjoy spending their free time doing.

Fun Fact: Despite absolutely adoring this plushie, I'm actually not a fan of what the Spotted Spaniel looks like in the virtual Webkinz World. This has been the case with a few other Webkinz plushies as well, but it's especially disappointing for this one because the plushie definitely exceeds my expectations, and I know that the Webkinz team is capable of making some really interesting virtual pets.

Quick Update!

 I have to apologize for being MIA for the last month and a half. My mental health got a bit out of control in the first half of February, and beginning about a week or so after my last blog post I started taking a higher dose of my anti-depressant. I'm feeling much better now, but as a result I've been spending the last however many weeks doing a lot of self-care, and even grieving somewhat. Don't worry about me, though, I'll be okay. :)

Anyways, I'm back now and I've noticed that there are still a ton of plushies which I haven't written blog entries about, so I would like to start doing that again. I'm also interested in potentially writing short stories involving 2-4 characters at a time (the character being based on my plushies of course). I don't know yet when I'll be starting this, but I think it would be a nice way to get back into writing and storytelling, which is something I've been wanting to do for a few weeks now.

Lastly, I wanted to mention that I have many plushies that aren't Webkinz or any other brand that I've described in this blog, and I'm considering writing about them as well. This even includes my plushies that are based on popular IPs like Super Mario and Spongebob! They all have interesting backstories, and despite being outliers from my regular stuffed animal collection, they really deserve some attention as well. 

So yeah, you can definitely look forward to some new stuff! I'm thinking of setting a schedule for myself to write in this blog so that I don't go through long periods of silence again. Thanks for reading!~