Odds And Ends, and Emails

 Did you know emails are still a thing?  I don't mean getting junk mail, or even work emails.  I mean actually writing an email and waiting for a reply?  I think in the last 15 years I have wrote maybe 5.  This week I think I have wrote.... 1...2....carry the 1..... UH..... shuddup, counting is hard!  5! I've written 5 emails.  I also never responded to one, sorry Jon, I should do that after I finish this.  I'll get the fun/concerned one out of the way first.  Since Jon left that Twitter/X/Elon's Money Pit the only way to communicate with him has been through his blogs.  I haven't been as active reading or writing blogs this year (nothing new on the writing, but seriously lacking on the reading others, sorry guys).  I know Jon has had a rough year, and then last week Hurricane Helene passed through his area.  I wasn't sure how close he was to the major impacts in Tennessee, but I thought I'd send a message on his blog to ask how he was.  It turns out that he hasn't had too many blogs lately either, and so it gave me a little more concern.  I knew he probably may have not been able to post recently, but I was still worried, so I shot him an email.  I have relatives in Florida that I think dodged most of the Hurricane (thankfully it was west of where they are on the panhandle).  I also have some relative in North Carolina, which I was also concerned about.  Thankfully she informed me that they were safe from the damage that devastated her area.  She was closer to Charlotte than Asheville, so besides some downed trees, not much hit them.  I was able to communicate with her on Facebook.  As for Jon, I waited a day and saw he sent me an email.  He informed me that the storm didn't affect him, but reflected on how the damage was in his area.  I am glad he is fine.  He gave me an update on how he's doing, but I'll leave that for him to tell.  I'm not one to tell people how others are doing, unless they want me to.  Anyways, it was nice to hear he'd doing good, and it made me realize I should probably do a blog as well, instead of being radio silent for so long.

A new addition to add to my (non) food collection

As for the other emails.... well.... I'm running for office and its classified information.   Just kidding, politics is too dirty for me.  No, I recently saw a killer deal on the website Newspapers.com that was half off for six months.  Normally their Black Friday deal is around 40% off, so I figured I wanted to do that this year, why not now.  So far I haven't had definitive stuff to look up like I normally do during their free weekends, but I have found a lot of information locally about business news, as well as a couple other projects I have been working on.  The goal is to find some actually good stuff before the subscription runs out in March.  In searching though, I tend to like somewhat modern history, like stuff from when I've been alive.  Stuff I've lived through.  I am going to deep dive soon probably into the 2011 Joplin Tornado, and would like to find info locally about the Flood of 1995.  The problem with the latter is that my most local newspaper only goes into around the early 1950s.  I have sent a few requests to Newspapers about adding more recent issues, but they never reply.  I'm sure they read them, but I would at least like a "we will look into it".  So I decided that I would message the State Historical Society of Missouri to maybe nudge them a little.  They have had a partnership with Newspapers and in the last couple years have added a ton of newspapers and pages.  So first I messaged them on Facebook.  I knew it was informal, but a shot in the dark.  They replied a day later giving me a person to contact.  So I figured, might as well.  So I emailed her, not expecting much and within a couple hours got a response.  She was away for a conference but when she returned would look into it.  Hey at this point I'm just happy I broke through.  GOOD ENOUGH!

However this morning, she sent a followup email, and I was very shocked at her tenacity.  As I read the email she explained they they added it to the que to add more pages, however they can only go until around 1963 or so, and then they would need publisher permission.  She suggested I email the paper to talk to them and their owner.  So I wrote her back and thanked her.  At this point, I thought I've done more than I thought and got some results, so I'm happy.  Then I thought much like Field of Dreams.... "GO THE DISTANCE".  So I kidnapped James Earl Jones, took him to a baseball game.... oh, wait sorry.  R.I.P. James Earl Jones, I'll miss you.  Anyways, I thought why not send an email to the paper like she suggested and see what happens.  At worst there is no reply, but maybe I can get something rolling.  So I emailed the paper which concerned me for a moment because they have a thin staff and I think one of the remaining staffers has a grudge against me.  Or else he blocked me on (I think I'll refer to it as Elon's Money Pit from now on) for no reason.  I never liked him anyways, so there.  Luckily he wasn't in charge of the paper or who I had to email, so I wrote them.  I just sent it and don't expect much, but maybe it will get sent to their owner who has many other Missouri newspapers and all end around the 1960s on the Newspapers site.  Maybe they will give the publisher permission and more newspapers can be updated.  I'm happy with whatever happens, because at this point I at least will get another 10 years of archives to read about local news.  Until more stuff is added, I can find other cool stuff to search for.

As I stated I have had a few projects on there that I'm saving pages for, but another thing I've done is clipped some of the business news of Columbia, Missouri from the late 90's to right now around 2004.  The paper had great business coverage and it is fun to see when stuff opened and closed.  I have also clipped other random things as well, and probably will clip more randomness along the way.  I think I will give a link in case anyone is interested.  You can view the clippings for free.  Clippings

I have been using the newspapers site to take my mind off things lately.  It seemed like every time I looked at something on the internet, a celebrity passed away recently.  A mix of actors and athletes made me not want to look at anything.  Then as I was taking my mind off that on Facebook I came across a relative passed away a week prior and I was just now hearing about.  It seemed very odd losing so many people at once, and it worried my mom.  I usually find out about a lot of famous deaths from Wikipedia.  I reminded her that once I did a rundown of all the people that passed away on like a random day.  It was like 30 or more people.  95% she or I had never heard of, but they still had a wikipedia page, so they were still somewhat important.  So at times it just seems there is a lot more names that stand out then others.  None of the recent names was a gut punch to me, but all of them made me sad.  I was sad to hear Frank Fritz from American Pickers passed, because he was the reason I watched the show.  He seemed more down to Earth than Mike and I haven't watched a full episode without him.  I also was sad to hear about John Ashton, not only because of Beverly Hills Cop movies, but I also enjoyed him in Little Big League as Mac.  I took the passing of Dikembe Mutumbo much worse than Pete Rose, but it did remind me that I had a Pete Rose autographed card thanks to that (2012?) set.  Then I saw Ken Page passed and I had to look him up.  While I never really watch Nightmare Before Christmas, I did see that he appeared on one of my favorite episodes of Family Matters.  He was (besides Carl) the last surviving member of the DARNELLS!  For whatever reason I loved that episode, and he seemed like a good actor.  I also read up on Drake Hogestyn which I knew from Days of Our Lives, but didn't know about his baseball career until he passed.  I don't know the story I read, but it was real in-depth about his playing days.  Lastly, it wasn't good news hearing about the passing of Kris Kristofferson.  I will admit I didn't listen or follow him as much as Waylon, or Willie, or Johnny, but I did like him.  I know I missed some others, but I've already had a ton of words an hardly any pictures.  I think I need to remedy that.

I haven't really read much as of late, and this year as a whole I haven't read to the level I did last year (probably because the books haven't been as good), but I have a couple to show.

A couple recent additions, the top one I'd consider a coffee table book, one that is more blurbs than stories.  I details every World Series up until 2002, but at the same time, it doesn't add too much depth to them.  A couple pages per each year with a few exceptions.  The thing I liked the most about it though was the box scores from the games.  Especially the older ones.  I would have figured the newer World Series games would be more in depth but they weren't.  I mean for a quarter I can't complain about it, but I think I probably would have passed if I had a do-over.

The second book is one I'm currently reading.  I don't have a lot of knowledge of the PCL or this franchise besides knowing the Sky Sox is a cool name for the Colorado Springs team.  I am about maybe halfway through and just started the Honolulu section of the book, which I think might be what I want to read about the most.  They played at "The Termite Palace".  This book gives a year by year rundown and is much better than the World Series book, but it sometimes drags on while talking about the stats of the players.  What is odd about reading this is thanks to a book I read earlier this year I knew a little about the Honolulu teams and the Termite Palace.  Early in his career, Al Michaels called games for Honolulu and he talks about it in his book.  It is the reason why the Honolulu portion is what I look forward to the most.

I'm not sure I'll review every book I read this year, but maybe I'll have at least a list or picture of the books I've read as the year commences.  I have to remember if I took pictures of all of them.

A couple of books I recently bought I guess I'll show off here.

Books are still 4 for $1 at my local second hand store, and my mom usually gets a few and needs a couple more to make it an even buck (sure they are a quarter each, but she likes round numbers).  None of these were must have, so I told her if she found good stuff put these back.  There wasn't much to choose from so she kept them.  Tom Landry looks like Steve Martin in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles in that cover photo.  I think the Ben & Jerry book might intrigue me the most, even though I don't know if I've every had their ice cream (I like the cheap stuff).

I didn't find much else this time, so nothing else to show.

At the top was a new addition to my food/non-food collection.  I thought the Mike & Ike pen set would look nice next to the Mike & Ike lip smacker/gloss and the Mike & Ike Hand Sanitizer (which has to be well expired since I got it pre-covid).  In addition to that I found a couple pairs of socks.

Neither got me too excited, but at least I have a couple more to add to the collection.  The green on the Eggo stands out a lot more in the photo than it does in person.  I think I like the Ring Pop one more but wish their logo on the sock would have been shown more.  I do like seeing the full ring pop though.

There were a couple others but I didn't really like them at all so I passed on them.  I don't know if I'm moving on from them or they just aren't exciting anymore, but I do know there are a few I don't have I'd like to get, so I'll keep searching.

I don't have an updated picture of the wall because I haven't bagged these yet to display, and nothing has really changed since the last post.  I think I have an idea of how to bag them better though, so maybe in a few months I might have to rebag them anyways and I can take a much better picture.

Aside from that I am not sure what else to show.  I guess I can show a dumpster dive.  My mom informed me a couple items were sitting by the dumpster but I was tired and decided I'd rather sleep then check it out.  The next morning after the sun came up I decided I'd take a look.  At worst I got a few extra steps in.

*note* I use to take much better photos. *note*

She told me it was a chair stool and it sat high.  I didn't know it would look that nice.  I think it matches the table I rescued a few months earlier.  She saw the neighbor take it to the dumpster which he's the one that also had the table.  Other than being a bit wobbly, it was just fine.  In fact after my mom cleaned it up she tightened the screws and its much better now.  I does sit high, but its not a big deal.  I figured at worst I could salvage the wood from it, but I think its just fine and will maybe take it to storage to have a chair to sit on.

The exercise bike I was a little more excited about.  I thought it would be a bit newer, but even as it is, I was happy.  We have one in storage that I've wanted to bring home but it is missing the back leg/bar.  It works fine, but I'd like to find something to replace it.  When I saw this again I figured at worst I could use one of these if we didn't like the rest of the bike.  I tested it out and I like it.  The only real issue is the speedometer doesn't register a speed, but to be honest that isn't a big issue.  It is much lighter than our old one, so its easier to move.  In fact my mom told me later that he had taken them both out to the dumpster at the same time.  I did the same bringing them from the dumpster.  I think I'll keep this bike here for now and when I get into using it more maybe I'll swap it out just so I can read the speedometer.  Otherwise I'm very happy with this dive (especially since I didn't have to actually dig inside the dumpster).  I'm so glad it didn't rain that night.

So I think I'll wrap things up there.  I guess before I do I will answer one question Jon asked me in the email I didn't respond to.  He asked how my mom and I are doing.  I can say that while we haven't been motivated to do much lately we have both been fine otherwise.  Her nosebleeds haven't happened in a couple months now, not even a little drip, and her other sicknesses have seemed to gone away.  She has days where she might have a headache or a leg problem, but otherwise she's good.  As for me, I have been good and haven't had any issues aside from allergies.  I think its so odd that I never had allergies growing up but now sneeze all the time.  It never bothers me though to a point I have to take something for it, so I'm not complaining.  Otherwise no issues, and now with a bike maybe I'll get motivated to exercise a bit more.

Thanks everyone for reading and I hope everyone has a great day and a great weekend.  I never even mentioned the Royals making the playoffs and making it past the Wild Card round.  Maybe I can make another post about that.  Remember the good old days when I'd make custom cards?  Ahh, memories.  Thanks for reading!

The Evolution of a Blog

 Before I begin, I must admit I had a post in draft about a month ago.  It was a "Ranting and Raving" post, that was mostly ranting, and it was pretty long.  I wasn't even maybe halfway done and something came up and I saved it to draft.  The thing is, I don't like saving to drafts, it usually seems pieced together when I come back to it later.  So a couple days later I came back to it.  I had calmed down, and I realized most of my ranting was pointless (and far too political for my blog).  I always say I try not to get too political, but I had a breaking point before the August primaries, and needed to vent.  After the election I was fine.  For the most part.  I know the November one will be the same and possibly the results will be similar.  I don't care who people vote for (or don't vote for that matter), i just wish we as a country could unite again and while disagreeing on issues still come together at the end of the day.  Its starting to be a pipe dream though.  Anyways, just letting you know I wasn't totally inactive the last few months.

One thing I did address in that blog that never was though, was some personal matters.  Another issue I never really discuss because I'm mostly a private person.  However this year has had some challenges.  This summer especially.  My mom has had some major nosebleeds this year, starting in April.  She was rushed to the hospital for a nosebleed!  At the time it was a one off issue.  She had minor ones for a while after, but that isn't terribly uncommon.  Then in July she had to be taken 3 more times by ambulance.  After the last visit a suggestion to her may have stopped them (hopefully).  She was taking baby aspirin as she always heard it was beneficial.  However the nurse told her to stop doing it, and it hasn't occurred since.  She had an appointment a few weeks later with and ENT specialist (Ears, Nose, & Throat), and that say curbing the baby aspirin may have cleared things up.  Her nose has felt better since.  However that last hospital visit may have caused another issue.  She was sick for a week and she had to be taken by ambulance once again to the hospital.  What we both thought may have been dehydration turned out to be pneumonia.  She was given pills and started to slowly feel better.  Then a leg issue came up and was prescribed more pills.  This gave her a horrible reaction, and once again another hospital visit (this time my aunt drove her).  They thought she caught pneumonia again. So she had other pills to take.  She started feeling better and thankfully for the past week or so she has been starting to be back to herself.  While she had her first bout of pneumonia I came down with something as well.  I don't go to the doctor much (I know I should), so I started looking up what I could have.  In the end I'm not sure what I had.  It could have been something like a stomach bug or flu, to something like kidney stones.  I had a really bad stomachache which then gave me bad back pain.  Then I felt something I thought in my kidneys.  I can't say for sure what it was but for almost a week or two I felt horrible and nearly bedridden.  I gave myself a deadline or else I'd see a doctor.  On the last day or two before the deadline, I felt like I passed something, then I suddenly felt better.  I haven't had issues since.  Well, some back pain, but I've always had back pain so it isn't related.

So as for the long intro, that's how my summer vacation went.

We both felt fine a few days ago so we made a trip to get some food and stop at our local second hand store and Dollar Tree.   As I was preparing the pictures for this post I realized how much my blog has transformed in the.... 10 YEARS??  HOLY CRAP I JUST REALIZED ITS BEEN 10 YEARS!  Wow, um... anyways... transformation, I lost my thought.  When I began this blog it was just a test to see if I could actually write on a consistent basis and talk about mostly my Royals cards and my card collection in general.  When I started the blog, I had just started to get heavily involved in collecting again after my sister passed away.  I had left card collecting sometime around 2000 or so when I graduated, and sold my collection maybe around 2003 or so.  Then in 2006, my dad passed and I was given his collection.  I spent time sorting them, but wasn't super big into getting back into the hobby.  Though I started buying packs of cards again.  So much so that my nephews would buy some wrestling packs time to time.  It never became a hobby again until around the time I hurt my back and couldn't work anymore.  Then I had time to kill and needed something to do.  So I decided to catalog my collection, and that's when I found the Trading Card Database.  It was also around that time my sister was diagnosed with cervical cancer.  For the next couple years with no job I would go with her to St. Louis while she received treatments.  After she passed I fell back hard into card collection (thanks also in part to TCDB and COMC where I could get cards cheap).  Wanting a way to show off the cards I started reading card blogs and thought I should try it.  At first it was mostly about Royals, Mizzou, and Greg Maddux.  I had some ideas for other stuff which I did a few times, but it went by the wayside.  However a couple odd things happened around the time I started the blog.  The Royals, the perennial losers started winning.  My fandom kind of gets burnt out after my teams win.  I was once a Buccaneers fan and after they won a Super Bowl in 2003, I lost interest.  I rooted for the Red Sox as a secondary team, and after 2004, I lost interest.  So in 2014 at the beginning of my blogging days (for cards, I once had a Xanga account, ahh I'm old), the Royals had a chance to be champs.  They didn't win in 2014, but they did in 2015, and honestly that was around the peak of my blogging days.  When I start something new, I go in hard.  Long story short, Royals won, I lost interest, and in an effort to drive myself harder on the blog, I wrote way too many posts and burnt myself out.  So then I started taking some breaks from blogging.  It was also around this time that I started losing some interest in collecting cards again.  Not enough to fully quit, but to a point where I needed to shift what I was showing off.  So I started showing off finds from my local second hand store, Savvy Seconds.  For a while I still had a sports theme as they did have some cards at times, and some clothing and such.  Then they started changing focus to newer items, and I needed to pivot.  So I created a series called "Savvy Loot Crate" Where I'd spend maybe 5 bucks or so and see what I could get.  It was my way of getting a Loot Crate but liking everything I got.  I was able to show off my music and movie collection more, and I didn't really lose my viewers.  Around this time my Dollar Tree stopped selling cards, but I found a new vice- movies.  I got a ton of movies from Dollar Tree, and actually started building my blu-ray collection.  I think my first blu-ray was Last Action Hero, which I bought before I even had a blu-ray player.  I have close to 200 blu-ray movies now and a majority of them were bought from Dollar Tree.  Covid hit and by this point I knew my heart wasn't into blogging or even collecting cards anymore, but I didn't want to stop doing either, just wanted to casually enjoy it, which I did.  Covid caused a rise in card collecting (and prices) and I think in the last 4-5 years I might have bought less than 10 packs of trading cards.  I don't even know when I last added cards to my collection, I know I was given some by some giveaways on TCDB and won a few on Listia, but not sure how recent that has been. 

In the last year Dollar Tree hasn't been getting movies like in the past and now charge 1.25 for items (if not more), so I needed to find something else to collect.  I got a few Hot Wheels, but I never really was a big collector of them (but do wish I could find some of the old ones I had as a kid).  But then one day I found something to fill the void.

SOCKS! (and finally a picture after an hour of typing).  This is my most "recent" picture.  If you've seen previous blogs I think the 3 newest I've added is on the bottom row, the Skippy Peanut Butter, Jello, and Dippin Dots (I didn't take a picture of the Jell-O one I guess).  For about a month I had taken all these off the wall because I had to reorganize them because I had enough to make a third row.  It wasn't until this last Tuesday that I decided to hang them back up and organize them better.  I even left room on each row just in case I added a couple more at some point.

OOPS!

A trip to Dollar Tree on Wednesday made me happy, but made me wish I waited a few more days to reorganize these.

So now I need another row.  So what I noticed about this batch that is different is not only a could have white hangers (maybe I am getting a little OCD, but that might bug me), but these all have $1.25 price one the cardboard, something they haven't had before.  I don't mind that as much, but would prefer if they didn't.  My two favorites are the Doritos (which I've wanted for quite a while), and Planter's.  I prefer the single color background ones more than the multi color.  The Sugar Daddy one and a few others indicate that I should be on the lookout for Blow Pops, Charleston Chew, and Junior Mints.  

Here is the Dippin Dots one I got a few weeks ago.  Again, I thought I took a picture of the Jell-O one, but I guess not.  I've noticed in recent trips that they have branched out and have other types of novelty socks as well, like cartoon characters, and even movies.  I spotted a pair of Happy Gilmore socks last visit but passed.  I try to only get food related ones, because I like how I have them displayed.  However I finally bought a non-food pair which I might display in another area and will fit into my collection nicely...that or I might give it to my nephew, who will really enjoy them.

This pair also has a different hanger, which I like as its closed off so it won't fall off a tack as easily.  I really don't know what will happen when I run out of room on my wall for socks.  I like the location because it faces the pantry.

Another thing that has evolved since the blog has started is I've bought and read more books.  This year I haven't read as many, but still read quite a few.  If I remember I will show all of them I've read at the end of the year.  I figured if I buy books might as well read them.  Currently I'm taking a little break from reading, but have a few I plan to read soon.  I have bought a few recently.  I have also been buying more cookbooks lately.  Mainly for my mom, but I also like looking at them, especially community type ones.  Also the other big thing I've done and shown more on here is puzzles.  Now with over 200 puzzles, we haven't worked on as many this year, mainly because of a few issues with the apartment moving stuff around and also for lack of better word, laziness on my part.  That will change soon.

On my recent trip to Savvy though I did buy a sports related item, one that really surprised me.

A stadium giveaway hockey puck from the New Jersey Devils? In Mid-Missouri?  At any rate it was not only a bit odd, but also kind of spooky I found this.  A day before I mentioned to my mom that I have stress balls of a football, baseball, and basketball (thanks to my sister on the basketball), so it would be nice to find a stress ball of a hockey puck.  Well the next day I found this.  Which is a little spooky.  Not to be outdone, I also found a stress ball.

This is the second body part I have in stress ball form, as I also have a foot.  Now I collect things, but it was never my intention to collect stress balls.  However in the last 5 years I've have relied on them a lot more than I ever thought I would.  I hate needles so when I got my covid shots, a stress ball came in real handy.  In the last year with my mom's health issues, having a stress ball has been very good for me.  I never realized until this year how much anxiety I really have.  I know it has increased in the last 15 years, but I use to be a people person, now I get stressed over the simplest things.  So having an insane amount of stress balls isn't too bad.  Not only can I display certain ones, but I can use one when in a pinch (did I just make a dad joke?).  I don't know if I'll expand my sports ball collection (I can see soccer and volleyball as potential ones, maybe rugby, but not sure if they make stress balls for other sports).  As for body part stress (?balls?) I have a brain and a foot, I don't know what else they would make.  I also have a spine keychain which I can display next to them.  I'm not a huge fan of the human body or anything, but it is kind of a cool/creepy collection.  Once everything is organized, maybe I will show everything off.  Though I just realized its now September and around November I display all my tins for Christmas, so maybe it will have to wait.

Another item to add to my food collection, was this Hershey's coffee cup.  I don't drink coffee, but I could drink hot chocolate from it.  However I am somewhat of a germaphobe (not an extreme case), so I don't like using used mugs, cups, plates, or the like.  I mainly like to display mugs and such I find.  That said, if I ever needed to use them, I know I could clean them up enough to my satisfaction.

I mentioned movies earlier, and it looks like second hand might be where I get movies from now on.  I don't know what the future holds for movies, but I grabbed this one for a buck because not only do I not have this classic on DVD (or Blu-Ray), but I really wanted the bonus "It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown".  My dad bought a copy of it on VHS from a gas station in the 90s and I think I still have that copy, but I wanted to get it on DVD.  I try not to go overboard on movies anymore unless it is a wishlist item or something I know I would like.  Since getting a Roku, I have found many free movie options and rarely have a time where there is NOTHING to watch.  That's not to say I can easily find any movie I want, but it has expanded my horizons on movies.  Maybe I can't find Days of Thunder on streaming for free, but I can watch Cannonball, a racing movie from the 70s with David Carradine.  I'll give it a shot.  In fact I never really watched a Charles Bronson movie 10 years ago, and now I've watched quite a few of his, even so much as if I ever want something on for noise I'll turn on Mr. Majestik (which you can usually find on Pluto, palie).

I think I have plenty of DVD-R's but for 50 cents for 3 I went ahead and got them.  I am still planning on ripping from VHS to DVD and have more tapes that I might be able to get commercials from (once I get my VCR working again or a remote for my VCR).  So it was a good investment.

The drywall kit, well it was brand new, and I got it for more screws which I could always use.  If I wanted I could have got about 10 or more others, but I figured one would be enough.

The four pack of bed risers I think was a buck.  I pondered if I needed them, but decided to go ahead.  In the background you can see I already have a set.  I don't plan on using them for a bed, but you can place them under furniture as well.  I have considered placing them under my TV stand, or maybe some other furniture piece. Now that I have 8, it should provide more stability for a larger piece.

I still have books to show and puzzles completed, but I've been typing a lot and think I've shown enough pictures.  I think I will stop for now and organize my pictures a bit for the next post which I hope will be soon.  I am finally getting the hang of using Google Photos for my blog and so I'm getting better at it.  Using a chromebook is still a learning experience, but I can get most stuff done.  I think for the rest of the weekend I might work on getting the rest of my stuff off my old desktop, and trying to clean files.  Its an neverending job, but since I got that 4TB hard drive earlier this year, I am making progress.

Thanks everyone for reading and for those who have been here since the beginning or at least a large part of the run, an extra large thank you for keeping me motivated to keep writing.  I have no plans of stopping, but it might be few and far between at times.  Who knows where the next ten years will bring.  I should do like a best of covering the first 10 years.  Maybe that will be in the future.  Anyways thanks again, and have a great weekend.

Life In The Slow Lane

 I really have to be motivated to do stuff anymore.  Not just this blog, but a couple months ago when I last posted I was started to move stuff around the apartment and figure out the best way to display stuff.  Since then I have moved the furniture, but I haven't been motivated to display the stuff I had to move.  I worry at times I'm too much of a homebody, but at the same time, I don't have much interest in doing stuff.  I easily blame it on the weather or something else, but the truth is long before Covid, I just didn't want to be around people.  Now I don't have much interest in things that I would do at home even.  Besides moving them a few times, I'm not sure the last time I handled my cards.  Well, not entirely true I did get a few packs off Listia a few months ago, which I probably should do a blog on.  My main card focus these days when I even think about them is non-sports cards.  The cards I got were the Hollywood ones from the 90s and county music.  If I do a blog on it I'll explain the reasons.  I probably have a hundred or so cards to show since the last fully dedicated blog on them.  I rarely go to the TCDB anymore either.  Even when I wasn't messing with cards much the last few years I still visited the site multiple times a day.  I don't know why I don't visit much, but I also don't fret over it.

All that being said, I do still have some interests and I have a few things to show today, which are things I have been doing.  So since today is the first day of summer.... eh, okay that's not the reason, I just was bored.... let's take a look.

I don't know if I showed an updated photo of my sock collection, but but this was a few weeks ago.  The Ramen and Cup of Noodles were a big hit last time, and I think I added my first double (which really in baseball terms would be considered a variation), of the Oscar Mayer hot dogs.  I like the yellow on slightly more.  Not related to the socks, but underneath the hot dog socks is a wrapper for Cherry Mash.  My mom and I have been looking for some for a few months and finally found some and I saved a wrapper.  I still like the idea of this being a food wall, so maybe more will be added later.  I made a comment to my mom and sister that about 4 more pair of socks and I'll have to add a third row.

A few days later my mom and sister went shopping and found a couple more for me.  I just realized I didn't take pictures of them.  That ruins the setup for the next pictures but oh well.  I had them setting ready to bag and display for a few days.  Then I went to Dollar Tree and told my mom if I bought more than two I'd have to make another row...

Even though I don't use it, Frank's Red Hot has been on a wishlist for a while.  I have looked up what I don't have (not really a list, but seeing what others have posted) and have wanted it for a while.  The Bagel Bites and Teddy Grahams were ones I forgot about, but glad I got them.  All was well, but now I have to start a third row.  So as my mom and I looked around Dollar Tree, I went around the front and noticed a display... UH OH!

What have I done?  I thought this would be a fun little collection, never did I imagine I'd have a wall dedicated to them.  To think the first two times I spotted them, I only got one or two pair and passed over many others.  I believe the Eggo was one I passed over.  This batch includes two more variations, the Cup Noodles and Kool-Aid, which I probably didn't need either, but still I'm glad I got them.  Though I did consider not getting all of them, I mean why do I need this many socks.  Now fearing making a third row, I pretty much filled up that row and very close to a fourth row which I don't know what I'll do if I need another.

Not easing my remorsefulness was when the checkout lady who is so nice and I've known for many years said "I've never seen somebody buy this many socks".  All in good fun I responded "I had to find something to collect since there hasn't been movies in a while".  We both loved seeing the new batch of movies come in, but it was the truth.  So now instead of going to Dollar Tree for movies, I go for socks and Hot Wheels.  Which if I'm honest, Hot Wheels are cheaper at Walmart.

As I stated above, I'm not motivated, so I haven't hung them up yet, but maybe I will this weekend.  I still need to bag them first to prevent dust on them.

Then after Dollar Tree we made a trek to our local second hand store.  We don't get too excited anymore, but sometimes a deal is to be had.  Was today one of those days?

A couple cheap puzzles is a nice way to start.  The Hometown Collection had a confusing price, but we decided to get it for 1.25, which is still cheaper than the $3 most of the puzzles are.  The most exciting one though was also the cheapest.  Long time readers may remember the Pretzel puzzle we have which is in a bag very similar to this Popcorn one.  I believe there is three kinds, pretzels, popcorn, and potato chips.  I've been looking for the popcorn and potato chips one for a long time, and so glad I finally found the popcorn one.  I'm not sure when we'll start on it since we are pretty far behind on puzzles right now (partly motivation and partly because the table was full with other stuff preventing puzzles to be worked on).  Right now we're working on a flag one (pic of the box in the next photo), and then we'll figure out what to do.

This calendar is another cool item I found for a quarter.  I've always liked the idea of these, but never found one for a price I like.  Sure the blocks are chipped, but a quarter is a good price.  Perfect time for it for Flag Day and Independence Day coming up.  Maybe I can find the right color to match and cover up the chips on the blocks.  The Flag puzzle is the one we are currently working on.  We've had it for a bit but figured now was the time to do it.  It is a bunch of different stamps.  It should be nice when finished.

I was pleasantly surprised to find books were 4 for a buck.  A lot better than 50 cents each.  I don't know why but I've been really into cookbooks lately, so I added a few more to the collection.  That reminds me I need to update my collection on the librarythings site (I forgot if that's the actual name its been so long).  The Southern Living one reminds me of the Ideals books/magazines and I like getting more Christmas themed ones to display during the holidays.  The only "real" books I got was the Fast NASCAR History, which is a quick read and I'm half way done reading, and Bear's Boys which I haven't got to yet (I can't read more than one book at a time).  I don't know when I'll get to it, my reading has dipped this year plus I have others I want to read first.  My mom found a couple books too, so overall we were happy.

Now normally I don't do this next part, but I was curious.  In the front of the store they had a bunch of stuff.  Some on the left side was marked I think free.  On the right side looked like junk but no prices.  When I put our shopping cart back I asked home much some of the stuff on the right side was.  The clerk when outside to look.  She looked for a price on the boxes, then said "you know what?  Just take them, one less thing I'll have to drag back in at 4 (closing time)".  That works for me, I just wanted a couple things but I'll take them all.

So I added to another collection for free, so it made up for the overbuying of socks.  What did I get?

Now make no mistake, all the cases were WELL WORN, however after going through them at home, none of the tapes themselves looked bad or had mold on them.  In fact one or two may have never been watched.  Some of them came from video stores, others looked like store bought.  Out of all the videos, only two (Field of Dreams and The 6th Day) were ones I already had.  I only slightly noticed the Terminator box set when I asked.  I was only going to get that and after looking maybe Commando and Young Guns 2 but so glad I got them all.  Again, most of these aren't ones I would watch, but it is nice to build the collection.  That doesn't mean I would never watch these, and even if I didn't get them some I actually do like.  Demolition Man I've watched 2-3 times on streaming this year alone, and I loved the first Ace Ventura even if some of the material doesn't hold up these days.  Sudden Death and Hollow Man are a couple I've wanted to rewatch for a while as well.  I think I once had Big Daddy on VHS so that can be added to my... once had on VHS mini collection.  The two that stand out are Hoosiers and Spawn.  Spawn included a special insert card thing that looked really cool.  I will likely display it (maybe only around Halloween, but still).  Hoosiers was the oddest one though.  It wasn't the original version it was from one of those Family companies that edit the movie so the whole family can watch.  I admit I have a DVD or two from similar companies, but I also believe movies (or music) should be edited, and while I admit I've never watched Hoosiers in one sitting, I don't know what would specifically need to be edited.  I just found it very odd that it was included in a box of movies which included many movies with much worse violence, cursing, and whatever else.  That said, I may have to watch it just to see what the modified.  I haven't used my VCR in a while, so until I dig it back out, it may be a while.  That isn't exactly a motivation thing, I'm trying to find a VCR that I can use to put tapes onto DVD (mainly grabbing commercials from the 80s and 90s).  Until then I'll probably keep the VCR in the closet.  I have enough stuff I need to hook up to the TV anyways.

Overall I think I made out pretty well on the trip, and was glad I was motivated enough to get out.  Also glad I was motivated to write this blog.  Maybe it will inspire me to finish organizing or at least figure out how to organize.  With the heat picking up (warm enough to turn on the AC) I will have to find something to do indoors.

Thanks everyone for reading and hope the weather is nice where you are, or at least can stay safe from storms or heat.  For the first time in 3 years we've moved out of drought conditions with recent storms, but some have been more severe than I've wanted.  Now hitting the mid to upper 90s in June isn't giving me high hopes for a cool summer.  At least I have stuff to do inside... if I can get motivated.  Have a great weekend.