Treasure Hunt from Hubby

I had a most exciting evening today! This post will be short and not informative at all but it's very special for me. First of all, I need to say that I have the best husband in the world and nobody dare contradict me. I've often talked about his contributions to my collection; it should come as no surprise that he decided to spoil me again. But he did it in a completely unexpected and ingenious way...
I came home weary after running a fruitless errand in terrible heat. Hubby was already expecting me, took my milk bottle, hugged me and returned to his work at the computer. I washed my hands and joined him near the AC unit. He asked: "Haven't you noticed anything out of place in the bathroom?" Me: "Uh?" Him: "Seriously, you should check your face in the mirror more often". I was about to remind him that people with a huge exploding pimple on the forehead avoid mirrors like the plague, when I caught a mischievous smile from his part. I returned to the bathroom. Sure enough, I found a message on the mirror:

"Want to play a game? Check the doll's purse :-*"

Of course I wanted to play a game! The most prominent and roomy doll purse I could think of was J-doll's fabric bag.

This one was easy. Inside was a folded note. Yay!

"We have a new friend, help her to escape, find her!!!
hint: magic card will bring you luck :) buhahaha!!!"

I knew hubby had been trying to contact a local distributor about some MH dolls, so this meant he succeeded in finding him :) But where did he hide the doll? Hmmm... I checked the business cards, discount cards and playing cards. Nothing unusual. A "magic card" could be a lot of things, with all the electronics we have in the house, but I decided to start with the cards in our board games. So many boxes to shuffle...

By the way, I asked hubby why he wrote the messages in English. His explanation was that his Romanian would have been illegible (why? we use the same alphabet), but I bet he did it for an appearance in my blog ;)

Anyway, I was closing the second-to-last box (Saboteur) when hubby took pity on me and told me to look again more carefully. Indeed, one of the cards had a strip of masking tape attached to the back:

"2nd floor small square door :)"

That's the bedroom and it has no doors. I checked for whatever could pass for a square door in hubby's imagination. Hello, a vent! And it's small and square!

Taped to the inside was yet another note:

"check the tea and you will see"

Sounds easy, but we have at least a dozen types of tea!

Pretty much all the jars and boxes are tea.
Except the white powder, which is not coke.

I reached for hubby's favourite, he calls it "cat's joy" (don't ask). Hey, a clue inside the lid?

"Search better :)
:-*"

Ahhh! He knew I'd look there first!
After a few jars, I found strange pieces of paper in the box with bagged tea. These don't look like factory labels...

The pieces were numbered, so I put them in order.

Flipped them...

"check behind TV"

What? There is no way he could have hidden a doll in plain sight!

No doll... but the last clue was taped to the back of the TV. I peeled it off.

"unwashed clothes :)"

Isn't that clever? We did laundry yesterday so he knew I would have no business around the hamper for a few days. There she was!

Ta-dah!
What an adventure! Words can't express how much fun I had!

Now it's too dark to attempt decent pictures, so I'll leave it at this; besides, everyone is already familiar with 13 Wishes Twyla. I haven't checked the phosphorescent eyes yet and haven't really played much. I had another post planned for this week and it is there that I'll squeeze some photos and opinions. Right now, we adore her. Hubby made this addition double special with his little hide-and seek-game. I glued all his notes, except the mirror message, in Twyla's diary. I enjoyed the thrill of discovery more than the doll and hubby is already plotting a more elaborate scheme for the next time. I can't wait!

Do you have a special person who supports your hobby? Do you have a story like this to share? If not, I challenge you to find a doll friend and prepare an unforgettable present for them :)

The Black Kitty
(^^)~~~

P.S. Don't forget to vote for the picture size on my blog! The poll is up until the end of the month. Scroll to the upper right corner to vote. So far I've only had three votes, which is too few to decide anything!