A fellow blogger asked me why I used Mrs. Beasley as my avatar.    

Well, let me explain….

Some of you – the under 40 or so crowd – are wondering who is Mrs. Beasley? She was a doll. Not just any doll, she was Buffy’s doll. Who’s Buffy? A character from the 1960’s TV show Family Affair.

Now this doll was more than a “baby doll” for Mrs. Beasley was no babe. She was mature for a doll. And wise. And maternal. And the closest confidant a girl could have – especially with no mother in the picture.

All things I aspire to be.

And her measurements were not anatomically impossible to achieve -unlike other dolls we know.

Plus when I did my Christmas Getting to Know Your Friends email questionnaire it struck me as I was reminiscing about favorite Christmas presents how much I have changed in looks throughout the years – especially when I looked at the dolls that I cherished from those days long ago and then looked at old pictures of myself.

And then I looked in the mirror – and I realized, I have become Mrs. Beasley.

In other words, I guess I didn’t aspire to be a “Barbie” but a wise (hopefully), maternal (intuitively), mature (still questioning that one), and true confidant for my own girls and others as well. Plus I like my hair better blonde, look good in blue, pretty much have the same shape Mrs. B does, am thinking about changing my glasses to square frames like hers, adore polka dots, and hope that when someone yanks my chain gently pulls my string, I’ll have something wonderful to say!

So to answer the question of why Mrs. Beasley – she’s my dream doll and mentor.

And the real truth is I have not taken a good picture in oh, three or four years…

or thirty or forty pounds…

But who’s counting??

Oh yeah, I am.

Okay, so a new disclaimer for “Making it Count” - ”counting” does not include weight or age numbers!!

Hmm….maybe I should have listened a little more closely to some of Mrs. Beasley’s favorite phrases…especially this one! 

To hear more of Mrs. Beasley’s wisdom visit this site – http://ftp.wi.net/~candrews/Voice_Samples/voice_samples.html