You can’t possibly imagine how excited we all are here in Whimsieville! We are adopting a new Whimsie!! And not only that, she’s not just any old Whimsie, but I’m fairly certain she’s a friend of mine from long, long ago!
Let me calm down here for just a moment and see if I can relate the details as they happened. As you know, all of us Whimsies came here to Whimsieville by way of the E Bay Adoption Agency. Miss Chrissy started looking at Whimsies, and first she found Tessie (who was an old friend of hers, from long, long ago) and then she found Trixie, and finally me. One by one, our adoptions were set up, paperwork was processed, and we were each sent on our journey to our new home.
Miss Chrissy has always maintained that Whimsieville is just about as full of Whimsies as need be, but still, she continues to look at the E Bay Adoption Agency’s website, to see what Whimsies are up for adoption. We asked her why, and here’s what she said: One, because she just likes looking at Whimsies, and Two, because you never know when a Whimsie might come up for adoption that for one reason or another would make a wonderful addition to our little family. She’s not actively looking to adopt another Whimsie, but if all the signs are pointing in the right direction, she would consider it.
Well, this past week, I happened to look over Miss Chrissy’s shoulder while she was visiting the Adoption Agency on the computer, and my jaw dropped and I gasped as I had never gasped before! Never in a million years did I expect that I would ever again see Trudi or Tootsie, my two Whimsie friends from way back, when Jennifer and I used to go over and play at her friend Patty’s house, or they would come over to play with us. But there, before my very eyes, on the computer screen, was a Whimsie who looked for all the world like my old friend Tootsie.
Of course, in some ways she looked just like Tootsie…light brown eyes, two cute little ponytails, that ever-present smile…but what was she wearing? The Tootsie I knew was such a tomboy! She loved to run and climb trees, and could usually be found wearing “dungarees.” (Back then, blue jeans were called “dungarees.”) But this Whimsie was dressed up all pretty in a cream-colored dress with a green silky bow. The Tootise I knew never ever wore dresses! You can’t climb a tree in a dress! You can’t play kickball in a dress, and even hopscotch is a lot more difficult in a dress.
But then suddenly, as my mind traveled back to those wonderful, whimsical days of long ago, I seemed to remember something. Tootie had once told me a big secret, that “Tootsie” was not her real name. It was only a nickname that Patty had given her, because she loved to go outside after the rain and run around barefoot in the wet grass till here “tootsies” were completely refreshed by the cool rainwater. It’s sort of an odd behavior, because in general, though most Whimsies are not totally terrified of water (like Trixie), still…it’s not a Whimsie’s favorite thing. But Tootsie liked to live dangerously.
As I looked at the picture of this Whimsie and wondered if it could possibly my same friend from long ago, it suddenly came back to me that Tootsie had told me what her real name was. It was…Thelma…. or Temperance …or Tallulah …or something else like that, which sounded very fancy, and totally did not fit her personality.
But then I reflected…well, sometimes people change, don’t do? And Whimsies…do they change too? Was my old friend Tootsie now a proper lady, happy to wear a dress? Well, I have no problems with dresses. I like dresses as much as I like blue jeans, or dungarees, or sweat pants, or whatever other kinds of clothes one might wear. And even though I never supported Tootsie’s penchant for climbing trees and running around barefoot in the wet grass, we could still be friends (as long as she didn’t expect me to join her in these outrageous behaviors–which she didn’t.)
But then again…maybe Tootsie had not changed at all, and she was just dressed up all fancy like this to make a good impression at the Adoption Agency. There are occasions when it’s appropriate to put on your “Sunday Best,” and this would certainly be one of those occasions.
I spent many hours looking at this picture at the Adoption Agency, and told Miss Chrissy the whole story, and went back and forth wondering and wondering if this could possibly be my old friend. At times I would look at her and be totally convinced this was Tootsie, and other times, pretty well convinced this was not her.
Miss Chrissy saw how perplexed I was and felt bad, and went so far as to email the Adoption Agency to see if they could reveal the name of this Whimsie. The reply was that her name was not known. That was very disappointing news.
Later on I found out that because she did not want to increase my disappointment, Miss Chrissy secretly began the adoption paperwork on this Whimsie. She kept it a secret, because sometimes the adoption works out, and sometimes it does not, and she didn’t want me to get my hopes up in case it didn’t work out. But a few days more passed, and then…guess what? Miss Chrissy came to me and said, “Tillie, I have a surprise for you. You know that Whimsie at the Adoption Agency you feel pretty certain is your old friend Tootsie, but nobody knows her name for sure? Well, you yourself are going to get to ask her what her name is, because she’s coming to live here with us in Whimsieville!”
I was overjoyed to hear this!! Whether she is in fact my old friend Tootsie, or whether she is in fact Tootsie, but has changed so drastically that she now prefers dresses to dungarees, or even if this is not Tootsie at all, but some other Whimsie who just looks like her—no matter what happens, we have a new friend coming here to live with us!!
I guess I should also mention that Tessie and Trixie have been in on this the whole time, and they are equally excited. But not as excited as I am!! We have only a few more days, and so much to do to get Whimsieville all spruced up for our new friend’s arrival. Whether this Whimsie ends up being my old friend or simply a new friend, it’s always a wonderful thing to welcome in more friends!
Yes, we got out of the jammies, but decided that at this point, we were only willing to go one step beyond that, maintaining a very large margin of Comfort. In a word: Footie Pants! (Well, actually, I think that’s two words, isn’t it?) We knew we had a few pairs of footie pants in our Wardrobe, so we decided to challenge each other with the task of creating the most comfortable and stylish outfit involving footie pants. Because sometimes it’s not enough to simply wear clothes, you want to make it a fun game, a challenge! So that’s what we did.
Let’s start by taking a closer look first at Miss Tillie. It’s worth noting that Tillie is dressed mainly in pink. Yes, I know, we usually see Trixie in her traditional favorite color, but for this Challenge, Trixie was willing to step outside her comfort zone (more on that in just a moment…), and when she left the pink items behind, Tillie jumped right on them! Here she wears pink polka dot footie pants, whtih a plain pink top. All that pink is definitely the right way to go to brighten up a dreary Winter day when you’d rather be sitting around in your jammies all day watching old movies on TV. 
Now, let’s look at Trixie, who is clothed almost completely in warm Winter colors of browns, blacks and some orange. Trixie later revealed that she went against the pink when she found these adorable footie pants with little frog faces on the feet. At least she thinks they must be frogs. Of course, I have to wonder why in the world anyone would want frogs on their feet. It’s not really for me, but then our Trixie is nothing if not a Free Spirit, always seeking out the most outrageous “against the grain” looks. Her woolen cap, with stripes of orange, black and gray, make her look like a skateboarding chick! Of course, the frogs totally destroy any thought that those feet might engage in any kind of sport, but there you have it. Trixie, our original mismatched rebel.
And how about me? I’m going for a different look entirely. You’ll notice first of all that I too am wearing stripes, not only in my woolen cap, but also up and down the whole length of my stretchy footie pants! My colors are light and bright, almost Spring-like. So totally different that what Trixie has chosen, and also different than Tillie’s outfit. 
And yet, even having said all this, at the same time, isn’t it ironic how our great Whimsie minds landed on many similar elements? How many? Well, let’s count them:
Of course he has a beautiful singing voice, but if you were to hear him speaking (as you can in the middle of 
Yeah, I guess you could say there are some similarities between Bob Dylan and George Ezra, but our Georgie Boy has a much better voice than Bob Dylan ever had, and of course he’s so much CUTER than Bob Dylan ever was! (Though Bob Dylan did also have his moments, with all that crazy curly hair, when he was younger, as you can see here.)
I’ve dug into the Archives to find this picture of me, when Miss Chrissy first found me at the Ebay Adoption Agency, and brought me to Whimsieville. As you can see, I’m wearing the same dirty dress as the Whimsie in our “Poor Dears” picture, though honestly, I don’t think my dress is anywhere near as dirty. And my face has some smudges (how long did I walk around with that spot on my nose, and never even knew it??) but overall my complexion is bright. 
Whimsieville has a nice variety of weather. It never gets as hot as the Amazon, and it never gets as cold as Siberia. But this last week or so…it has indeed been cold! Colder than we’re used to. That means the Fireplace is getting a good workout, and also that we get to bring out all our latest in cold weather hats and clothing—which is always fun! We have in our Wardrobe several Winter Coats, which we don’t usually get a chance to wear, so when we saw that the weatherman was predicting below freezing temperatures for several days in a row, we were so excited! We couldn’t wait to bundle up and go outside to test out the cold weather.
So the towels went out, and because the sun was strong, they dried quickly, and when it was time to bring them in, we Whimsies decided we had had enough of being babied, and begged Miss Chrissy to let us go outside and help her bring in the towels.
Well, that was a little scary, to tell you the truth, to think that the Weather could have been so violent at one point, and we decided Miss Chrissy has probably been right to persuade us to stay indoors. I mean…if the Wind could do that to a tablecloth secured with clothespins, what might it do to a wee Whimsie? We shudder to think…
It seems very strange, but as soon as we woke up on the chair, since it was already getting to be night-time, we went back to our Wardrobe to put on our jammies. Have you ever woken up and then put on your jammies?? Oh, what a topsy-turvy day we Whimsies had! Yes, indeed, but it was lots of fun! And maybe most fun of all was late at night, when the outside temperatures once again dipped below freezing, with the Fireplace roaring full-blast, Miss Chrissy made us a nice little snack of cherry-filled chocolates The Man had gotten her for Christmas, and cups full of steaming hot chocolate, topped with whipped cream! 
Nothing beats two kinds of chocolates and whipped cream, especially if it’s a gift of a gift, and you get to share it all with good friends at the end of an extremely fun and pleasant day.
