An American Girl, A Sharpie, and Acne Medicine

"How are these three things related?" you might ask. Well, I'll tell you The first is a doll. Clearly right. But not just any doll. A very expensive doll. An American Girl Doll. I, or should I say "Santa" does not usually buy expensive dolls, but I happened to be in Chicago, and happened to go to the American Girl Doll store and happened to get a little caught up in the excitement of the whole thing. Really, if you were there you would understand. Anyway, I had a little talk with Santa and it was decided that Abby and Gracie just must have American Girl Dolls for Christmas. Of course I had concerns. After Gracie's famous haircut, which she gave herself, she gave one of her dolls a hair cut to match. So I wasn't sure that an expensive doll was a good choice for Gracie or for anyone who would have their expensive doll in the same house as Gracie. But I decided that under my oh-so-very-watchful-eye all would be well. Christmas morning came, and there they were, two beautiful dolls for two very happy little girls. Fortunately Gracie seems to have grown out of her destructo stage, and takes really good care of her dolls now. Unfortunately McKay as grown into his destructo stage. This is where the sharpie comes in. Where Gracie's weapon of choice seemed to be scissors, McKay seems to be more comfortable with a permanent marker in his hands. The day I found Julie, that's Gracie's doll, laying on the floor with her face covered in black marker was the day that I realized that maybe, just maybe, my oh-so-very-watchful-eye was not as watchful as I thought. Okay, that's not true. This is something that I had known all along, but whatever. I was so frustrated I could have strangled someone. By someone, I mean McKay, the one with the sharpie. So to avoid strangling him, which I knew I would most likely regret eventually, I said to myself, in true Scarlett O'hara style " I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow. " and I put the doll on the top of my computer desk and left it, safe from further attacks. That was about a month ago. During the last month I would see Julie every time I walked into my room. I would think to myself, I should really do something about that. Then, I would think, naugh, maybe later. I considered sending her to the American Girl Hospital. No, I not making that up. They really have a hospital where you can send your doll if they are injured in any way or even just for routine check ups/cleanings. The doll will be sent back to you good as new wearing a hospital gown and ID bracelet. Cute right, but how much was that going to cost me. I don't know. I didn't check. What I did do....finally, is go to my trusty friend Google. I was then taken to a website that has answers from real people to all of life's most important questions, like... "How do I remove sharpie from an American Girl Doll's face?" Now this is where the acne med. comes in. A lot of acne meds like "proactive" or the cheaper "acne free", that you can get a Wal-Mart, have the active ingredient Benzol Peroxide. It's great for acne and apparently for removing permanent marker from doll's faces, careful though, it will also bleach clothing. I used the acne free with 10% benzol peroxide, put a generous amount on the markered areas, put the doll under a light and waited to three days. That's right three days. The website said to wait a couple of hours, but after a couple of hours I only noticed a small amount of fading in one spot, so I reapplied and waited some more. There is only one little spot the I need to treat again, but I'm very happy with the results. As for the bleached clothing. McKay found the acne med and squirted the whole tube on himself and totally ruined a new shirt. $100 doll saved, $12 shirt ruined, and a tube of acne free empty. Not a terrible trade off. Good thing I used the cheap stuff.