FREE DELIVERY WITHIN METRO DETROIT*

FAMILY TIES

The

of

Obsession

Even in fanatical behavior,
a lesson can be learned.

ICON

BY BOB SCHWARTZ

A LIFESTYLE HOME STORE

1623 WYANDOTTE ST. E. WINDSOR 519.252.9174
WWW.ICONFORTHEHOME.COM

*CALL THE STORE FOR DETAILS

Gift Certificates Available

6718 Orchard Lake Rd.
West Bloomfield Plaza

36 • DEC 12 NI 11 E 12

200 5 • JNPLATINUM

Hours: M-F 10-6 • Sat 10-5

248.855.2688

didn't succumb to the Tuffy
the Terrier temptation dur-
ing the Beanie Baby craze.
Not once did I join the
ranks of overly zealous parents who
hit the 6 a.m. lines on snowy
February mornings for first dibs on
Patti the Platypus when the store
opened four frostbitten hours later.
Admittedly, my sanity could have
been challenged when I tried to
explain to my then 6-year-old son
that the attraction of these sacks of
cheap fabric stuffed with polyethyl-
ene pellets was nothing more than a
carefully designed mass-market cam-
paign that lined the coffers of some
mega corporation. My pontificating
clearly fell on deaf ears as my son
then questioned, "OK, Dad. But
who do you think they'll retire
first, Cappuccino the Cat or
Buttercream the Bunny? And
can you spot me a few weeks'
allowance so I can get a Beanie
Babies display case?"
Now, years beyond that fad as
well as the unfathomable popu-
larity of Cabbage Patch dolls (all
of whom bore an uncanny resem-
blance to my 10th-grade drama
teacher), I can no longer boast of
evading toy-advertising schemes. I
confess: I am a full-fledged fanatical
member of Wobbler Addicts
Anonymous. It seems I have a bit of
a fondness for these three-inch-tall
colorful pieces of weighted-bot-
tomed plastic Disney characters
whose likenesses can currently be
found at the top of selected

Kellogg's cereal boxes.
My plastic toy addiction started
innocently enough a few months
back as I spotted a pint-size
Sleeping Beauty and Jiminy Cricket
resting comfortably on my kitchen
table. My 7-year-old daughter
informed me what they were, and
the Goofy gauntlet was tossed. I
grabbed her arm, sprinted out the
door, and thus began our quest to
collect all 50 Wobblers Disney char-
acters.
Before Baloo could sing "The
bare necessities of life will come to