Recap Time

 The weather in my neck of the woods hasn't been great this past week.  I'm actually not complaining it could be a lot worse.  This is the first big weather event of the season, and as for me, I came out unscathed.  Sure we got maybe 4-6 inches of snow, but we didn't lose power.  The forecast of up to 3 tenths of an inch of ice didn't pan out either.  In fact the meteorologists waited as long as they could to come up with the most accurate predictions and I think they did good.  Anywhere from 1/10th to 3/10 of an inch or more of ice and anywhere from 4 to sometimes upwards of 15 or more inches of snow.  Where we was the heavy snow stayed north of us.  The ice stayed south and even parts of the state had thunderstorms.  Kansas City even had some thundersnow.  I love weather, but am also grateful that nothing serious happens.  Sure the walk to the mailbox might be a slower walk for a few days until the snow melts, but I can live with that.

What the storm has done has actually been beneficial.  It actually started before the storm came, but it has continued throughout the storms.  One of my goals last year was to mitigate all my files onto a new external hard drive which I purchased in the spring time (or thereabouts).  It is a 4TB hard drive, and I have 5-6 other hard drives of various sizes, and I knew that I could probably have leftover room on this new one.  Even if I didn't lose all my music files a couple years ago, I would still have room for them too.  I realized fairly early that I'd still have about 2TB left, and that was celebration itself.  There were hardships along the way, like my chrombook which I admittedly haven't fully learned yet, it only has two usb ports.  I use one for a mouse because I don't like the built in pads on computers.  So only having one port and a chromebook with 40 or so GBs of space takes time.  It also didn't help that the old slow desktop that I had wouldn't read the new hard drive, so I had to move about 600 GBs or more using other drives (sometimes taking days at a time).  While expected, it also created an extra step.  I had a device to use on the chromebook for multiple usb drives at once, but it is near 20 years old and finally gave out.  I bought a new one and I'm not sure if its defective or what, but it has issues (maybe its the usb port on the chromebook).  Either way, its a long process.

In November the process was about over, but I got busy with other projects.  One I'll discuss in a bit, and the others just were things I wanted to do and get done with.  Anyways shortly after Christmas I found some time, and just before New Years struck, all of my files made it onto the new hard drive (save a few which was actually duplicates).  I was happy to be done, but the work isn't over, now I get to actually clean up all the duplicates, and I bet I might free up 100GBs or so.  It just feels good to finish projects.

Before I mention other projects, I thought I'd break it up with a picture.  Shortly after Christmas I made a trip to Big Lots.  It was after they announced they were closing, but a day after they announced some might stay open.  While still in limbo, the store had already started closing sales.  I bought 2 sets of flyswatters.  I saved 10 cents.  Not the best deal, but I did also find a remote which I think I saved a buck on.  I bought it in hopes of using it for a VCR, but I haven't tried it out yet.  Projects still to work on.

Another project I had little hopes of completing but one I really wanted to do was a Christmas project.  When I got the deal for Newspapers.com at 40% off, I jumped on it.  However I might have made a mistake.  I love it, don't get me wrong, but I have a bit of a writer's block on what to look up.  So I'm not using the resources as much as I should.  However a couple weeks after I started using it, I had an idea.  My mom loves reading stuff on her tablet, however my mom does not use the internet...or a computer...or almost any technology that she deems is "too hard to learn".  I don't fully blame her, but it was a miracle just to get her to use the tablet.  So every few weeks I load some magazines and newspapers I find onto the tablet and she reads them all.  Some is the usual, others I try to expand her horizons.  I think she's learning the ins and outs of collecting thanks to Beckett magazine.  Anyways, the idea I had was to create a newspaper for her to read on Christmas.  What I would do it take sections of actual newspapers (pages, articles, pictures, whatever) and I would put it into my own newspaper.  I had a lofty goal, and I started clipping articles and such.  After a couple weeks I realized "how am I going to do this".  Well Google has something where you can create a newspaper or many other things like newsletters, postcards, and other things (who knew).  So I started to work on it, but it seemed really hard.  Like something that might take months to do.  So I put it on the backburner.

Then I forgot about it.  It was about a week and a half before Christmas before I remembered.  It was a few days later when I tried it one more time.  This time it seemed much simpler, maybe because I really was focused on it.  I started out doing 4 pages and ran out of stuff.  So I looked at more newspapers, and I found more stuff.  Eventually over 2 days it went from 4 pages to 8, to 12, to 16!  I even had ideas for more, but it was two days before Christmas, and I was happy with the result.  I had to find some filler on some pages on Google, but it was good enough.  It wasn't perfect, but I already have hopes of doing another one next year, but it might be tougher to do since I think the subscription runs out in April.  Still I might start working on stuff soon.  If this works, here is the link to my creation.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1DPCcOWq2a8TWHw9XkOHnZVguUvpDixQX0DkLhadYYTU/edit?usp=sharing

The best part of it was that it was completed just in time to add more stuff to her tablet on the 24th.  I let my friend check it out slightly earlier, and my sister got to see it on Christmas.  All seemed to enjoy it.  There is things I would improve on next year, but this was a fine first edition.  I might try other ideas from it too.  My next idea is maybe a wrestling one.  I also have an idea of a birthday one for my mom later this month, but that one I might not need that for.

So having completed a couple projects I figured I'd get around to another blog.  Not a lot for today, but I thought I'd show off a few Christmas gifts and some other things as I clean up files.  Another bonus of all my files in one spot- I found a few scans and photos from 2017 that I never posted on here.  I bought a bunch of cards and never showed them off, so maybe 2025 might be the year to do that.

After the trip to Big Lots, we headed to Menards.  There wasn't much I was interested in but it had been a few years since I've been there.  I came up empty handed except for this Jack Links meat stick.  While much better than that Dill Pickle one from one of the more recent posts, this Fritos Chili Cheese one was very lacking.  I thought it would be a bit more spicy, but it wasn't.  I'm glad I tried it, but not something I need to revisit.

As Christmas gathered my mom and I both said no gifts.  Having a tight budget doesn't bother either of us because we give and get gifts for each other throughout the year.  However a few days before we took a trip to Jefferson City (which I mentioned previously), my mom let it be known that a package was coming in the mail and it was going to be my gift.  HMM, A GIFT?  Welp, now I have to get one for her. So again, knowing it would be a thoughtful but not expensive gift I was thinking of what to get her.  Well (this might sound cheap), on that Jefferson City trip I found her gift at Dollar Tree.

A $5 slot machine bank.  She would love it.  I think I told this part.  Anyways I waited for the perfect time to wrap it and put it under the tree.  On Christmas morning we both woke up late, and 9:00 AM we had breakfast.  She didn't notice.  10:00 AM, she didn't notice.  11:00 AM my sister called, she didn't notice (I told my sister I'd wait until noon to see if she noticed).  At noon my nephew called, but shortly after I decided "let's open gifts".  We actually had a couple things under the tree, but more on that in a moment.  She laughed, and we scratched off the lottery tickets, nothing.  Didn't win Powerball or Mega Millions either.  So I was like "what's this" SHOCKED FACE!  She was perplexed.  Who's that for?  (well, a little context, my mom and I were the only ones there). It has your name on it....from Santa.  "Where did it come from"?  I guess Santa.  "I don't recognize this writing".  How about you open it.  "Really, did someone stop by to deliver this?" O.P.E.N.....I.T.

A SLOT MACHINE, I WAS GOING TO GET THIS BUT DECIDED NOT TO.

She was very happy, and I totally tricked her.  What is funny was at the time I had no clue she even saw it in the store that day. It wasn't until after I bought it my sister told me she spied it.  Later that night she mentioned how she wanted to get this slot machine bank.  I had to act like I didn't see it.  Worse yet, I had to go to Dollar Tree again right before Christmas and was dreading the chance they might have it.  They didn't and I was in the clear.

She then said something that surprised me.  If you look on the back side of the tree, there is something for you....

This white bag? A couple days earlier, I was shifting stuff under the tree trying to decorate it a bit more and actually placed something on top of it.  It was pretty flat.

I opened it and I loved it.  She was upset.  She had ordered a magazine and this was the gift she was waiting for them to deliver.  It wasn't as it appeared in the ad.

"The ad said a luggage set, I was so mad when I got the mail that day and that was it.  Luckily you was sleeping".  However upset she may have been, I really do like it.  I will be honest, I'm not sure how to use them yet, but I think they will come in handy.  The smallest one on the right I have used already, but I also left it in my sister's car on her last visit.  I think I can store small items in them, and come to think of it, maybe I can store my flash drives in a small one.

Either way we both surprised each other, and I was very happy.  We had other gifts under the tree, but these weren't too surprising.

The popcorn popper and the vacuum we bought on Black Friday weekend at Dollar General.  My mom wrapped them up though so we'd have gifts under the tree.  We've talked about getting a popcorn popper for a while, and this was cheap.  We've used it a couple times and it works good, though a bit loud.  I'm glad we got it.  The Vacuum was an impulse buy, but something I've kinda wanted for a bit.  I know its probably more of a novelty, but I've wanted a vacuum to clean up the car for a while, and this might work for that.  I haven't tried it out yet, but I might mess around with it in a couple days.

The popcorn we got after knowing we have the popper and needed popcorn for it.  The Jolly Time we bought at Dollar Tree, and it tastes pretty good, and a good price.  The other one we bought on our Jefferson City trip to Natural Grocers.  We haven't tried it yet, but I'm sure it will taste fine.

Later on my friend stopped by and he had some gifts.  I felt bad I had nothing for him, and one day I will get him something really good.

Sorry the puzzles are sideways, I don't want to edit the photos.  The Captain Lou Albano was a really nice first gift.  He's probably not one I would have seeked out, but I did really like him.  In fact of those 4 legends you could get, the Captain is the one I'd want the most.  I have to organize my figures better, so hopefully when I get around to it, all my wrestling figures will look nice.

The puzzles are also nice.  The Disney one I think will be real nice since we've done a similar one and its a Thomas Kinkade.  The other 2 are unique and look like fun to do.  He said he found them at Five Below.  I haven't been in a puzzle mood lately, but with a few projects clearing up, I have more time to do them.  We are also saving the 99/1 ones for when we have a family gathering at the end of the month and my nieces will visit.  There isn't a lot to do here, so they might enjoy working on them as much as us.  In all I loved all the items, and will post pictures when I finish the puzzles and when I display Captain Lou.  Now I might have to see if there is a Cyndi Lauper doll or action figure I could put next to him.  Might need to keep Roddy Piper away from her though.

This year its not that I wasn't in the Christmas mood, but I didn't feel like decorating.  I was like that for a few years until about 5-6 years ago when I had a sudden urge to make the apartment look real nice.  Maybe next year I'll go back to that.  As for this year, we did decorate the tree and I displayed a few things.

We didn't have a great spot for the tree this year.  Next year I'll move it back in front of the front window.  I must have taken that on Christmas morning because my mom's gift is right in the front.

Some decorations we've had for many years (or decades), others are more recent.  The frog must have been my sisters because she collected frogs.  The Winnie the Pooh stuff came inside a blu ray I got from Disney.  My mom even decorated the cactus up. The amazing thing about that cactus is its over 20 years old and in the last year or two it decided to grow a bunch of smaller ones, its blooming like it never has before.  The glasses on the gorilla is a recent addition, I think it makes him look like Dame Edna.

The Schmidt House is an oldie but a goodie.  Its one of a few shirts we hang each year.  The snowman is 20 or more years old.  I won it at church and it was made from some of the church ladies.  As they passed on, it brings back the memories of the good times I had at church.

The puzzle was something we got on a trip to our second hand store, and my mom finished it pretty quick.  It said it glows in the dark but it didn't.  The abominable snowman my mom thought was cute on a trip to Dollar General.  I do agree it was cute, and he's soft.  He still has his teeth even.  Its a nice new addition.

My mom also completed this one by herself.  She received this as a gift from Shriners Hospital since she usually gives them money.  Its a nice puzzle, and while simple, I think it will be a nice addition.  I might even find a nice frame for it one day.

As that wasn't enough, my sister visited a few days after Christmas, and while I knew she had stuff for my mom, I wasn't expecting anything.  I shouldn't have been surprised though she did have something for me, in addition to the sausage biscuit from McDonalds.

I don't usually look at Matchbox cars, but I might have keep an eye out for them now, those are awesome.  My food wall is almost full.  In addition to the socks, now I have lip balm, hand sanitizers, bottles, cans, and even cars.  I told my mom next year I think I'll have to move everything (AGAIN) so everything can be displayed.  I'm about 20 socks behind now and more each trip I take, and probably have room for maybe 20 more after that.  That doesn't include the room for all the extras.  So a new project for 2025.  As for these, I think I like the Junior Mints slightly more than the Sugar Daddy.  Now I want to see what the other cars are in the set and see what I should look out for.

In addition to the cars, she also got me a reversible plush of the Chiefs.  Surprisingly I have blankets of the Cardinals, Royals, and Pepsi, but not a Chiefs one.  I do have a couple throw pillows though.  This is really soft, and perfect timing for this weather.  Having said that, I haven't used it yet.  I need to clean all my blankets and don't want to dirty the Chiefs one with the others.  Though I might still try it out when I set in the recliner.  I might have to try it during the playoffs.  I know she reads that and I've said this to her a few times, but thanks again sis.  I really do love these gifts.

I forgot I took a picture of the remote from Big Lots.  Nothing impressive, but I was surprised they still have remotes that have a VCR button on it.

While at Dollar Tree on a recent trip I still look at Hot Wheels.  I usually skp most but I saw this one and had to get it.  I've always liked double decker buses and this was too good to pass up.  Again 2025 will see a serious reshuffling of stuff to display.

I wasn't expecting this to be a photo dump, but I still have a few more things to show.  First we'll look at some recent book additions.

Books are 4/$1 and in addition I found a cookbook (picture was blurry, so I have to retake the picture).  The first thing I spotted was the recipe book.  It was brand new and it even had filler pages or bonus page packs.  It was too good to pass up.  Then I found the Soul Surfer book.  I liked that movie, my mom did too, so I figure why not.  Next I found the cookbook, it was thin, but a local one.  I really need to take a picture of it because thats another future project (for this blog), so we'll see how that turns out.  Lastly was the Jackie Kennedy book.  My mom mentioned she might have it already, but she tends to collect books of first ladies.  I think she might have every Eleanor Roosevelt book ever thought of.

Before I close out on socks, I wanted to show some CD's that I didn't last post.  I was shocked at one of them.

I'm a sucker for unique Christmas CD's.  Though I had two other reasons to get this one. First we seemed to misplaced my mom's Christmas CD's and so she wanted some tunes.  Second, I've never heard Don McLean sing a Christmas song and was pleastantly surprised.  It was worth the quarter.  Next was the BASEketball soundtrack.  While I'm indifferent to Smash Mouth's cover of Why Can't We Be Friends, the Reel Big Fish's cover of Take On Me was really good, and Supersuckers' Psyched Out is pretty good too.  I think it was worth a quarter.

Next I found the Crossroads soundtrack from Britney Spears.  If I'm honest, I didn't like her cover of I Love Rock 'N' Roll, but this was still sealed.  In addition, I liked the songs Girlfriend from Matthew Sweet and Mystika;'s Shake it Fast.  I also thought it was cool seeing Jars of Clay and Bowling For Soup on the same album.  I still haven't opened it yet, but not sure I will.  Maybe it will be worth something.

Speaking of worth, I also found a CD that blew me away.  Not so much the CD, but the price I've seen it go for.  When I'm out, I usually don't check prices online for stuff.  i feel its a gamble and sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.  In addition, most of the time, I don't try to resell stuff, I want it if its cool.  The only time I will look stuff up is when I'm at Walmart, and thats because I'm now using apps for groceries, and more importantly I can access Walmart's wi-fi.

Anyway, here is the CD I was happy buying for a quarter and finding out what it was going for online.

This is still sealed, that's what caught my attention.  The band is Shaman's Harvest.  They are a local band that hit it big.  Though saying that, I'm not going to say I'm a huge fan of them, or can name any songs.  I do know at one time, they did the theme song for WWE wrestler Drew McIntyre when he was doing the Chosen One gimmick.  Now while in store I saw a sealed CD of a local band, and that was why I wanted it.  As many of you know, I like Missouri history in terms of like Sports, music, and such.  So this was a nice find.  I didn't expect anything beyond that.

When I got home, I discovered (in addition to a crack in the case), that this was their first album, and it wasn't their first major label album, like their first album ever.  The Parental Advisory label on the front is a sticker stuck on the wrapping.  I can't remember if my friend found it on Discogs or if I did, but I was quite surprised.  

Granted it was last sold on Discogs in March of last year, but $250-$420 dollars?  WHOA!  I did look on ebay but didn't see anything, sold or current.  I'm very tempted to throw a crazy number up and see what happens.  If it doesn't sell, no big deal.

So with that I think I'll show off some socks and wrap it up.  I think I have more stuff to show, but that can be next time.  I think besides a couple projects this year, most of my posts might be just clean up posts of stuff I never showed off. It will still be exciting (or as much as any of my posts are) just not all current things.

Oops, I forgot I found another corkboard for $3 recently.  While great to display stuff, we use them for puzzles.  It is easy to transport and the pieces don't slide.  The opposite side is cardboard and you can do puzzles on it if you want too.  While we don't usually do two puzzles at once, we did want a backup.  We might even use this as intended for a while too.

Okay, sock it to me!

Now technically the Sweet Hearts aren't in the same line as these other socks, they are a candy, and since my birthday is Valentine's Day, I make the rules, lol.  They are slightly smaller than the others, but I still like them.  Maybe I won't display them all year, but I don't see why not.  Maybe I'll have them hanging up before Valentines Day.

The other three are nice additions, but I already have the Oreo's at least a different version.  At this point its a bit tough to figure out what I have and don't so I am starting to be a bit more selective.  Since my picture is outdated, its also to tell.  I have Doritos, but pretty sure not like the black pair.  I'm pretty sure I don't have the Mac & Cheese, or at least that version.  I don't know how much longer I can wait before bagging these socks up, I think I'm about 25 behind now.  So maybe I'll bag them the old way for now.  I still want to get a cheap vacuum sealer and use the new bags at some point, they will look much nicer.  Though here is the most recent picture without 20-25 pair I haven't bagged yet.

Also one last decoration photo.

So I think that will wrap it up for now, I hope everyone is safe from the weather and had a great holiday season.  I hope everyone has a great 2025, and hope if you have projects that you can knock a few out.  Thanks for reading and have a great day.

About That Time Again

 The other day my sister asked me if I was going to sign up on Bluesky.  The talk on Elon's Money Pit (aka X, aka Twitter, aka the birdy app) was this new social media site that a lot of tweety birds have migrated to.  They say its like the old Twitter, without as much politics and more fun.  A few bloggers I know have switched, in fact I've lost about 50 or more followers either because they left or Elon might finally be getting rid of bots.  Either way I considered it, but I told her that I don't want to replace one social media site for another.  I've seriously thought of leaving Twitter for a while, as its not been much fun.  I also considered creating another account and start fresh.  I haven't done either yet, and if I do, I don't know if replacing it with a similar thing will matter much.  I have a random thought I can post on Twitter, and 14 people can see it.  If its semi funny or worth anything my sister will share, if not, it will be forgotten in a few seconds.  Most of my tweets are reposts.  Through the politics and for whatever reason the k-pop crap, I can still find tweets that make it worth keeping for now.  Facebook, I use mainly for messenger, and for a few business and webpages to see when they have new information.  I rarely post on there anymore, and when I do its either to promote this blog (which shows how little I post on there), or a random thing just to make sure I'm not hacked.  At this time, I don't think I need another site to make me lose more of my mind with people's inane thoughts.  I mean a few years ago, I would have called you crazy at the thought of not wanting to post stuff all the time, either through social media, or by blogging.  Now, I can probably do without.

So you wonder why I keep blogging?  Well, hmm.  I guess part of it is I do enjoy writing somewhat, and sometimes I take pictures of stuff I want to show off.  My blog is vastly different than when I started 10 years ago.  I don't collect cards hardly at all (which in odd timing, I do have cards to show today), and I don't travel to too many places.  In fact the earlier years I took a lot of pictures when I'd go to a couple antique malls, but on those most recent trips, I forgot I had the phone in my pocket most of the time.  Taking photos is an afterthought.  These days, my photos and adventures and blogs centers around things like socks, maybe a random adventure, and/or books and movies I've bought.  Also puzzles.  Basically I blog just to show off hauls, and most of that is because my best friend and my sister is interested in what I've gotten, and instead of sending 15 pictures, I can just do a blog and show it off at once.  I still have other very loyal readers and commenters that I am very thankful for, and if they get enjoyment out of it as well, I am very happy for them.  I know my content is not the best or even the best these days, and my sporadic postings haven't helped, but when I do post, I still give 100%.  For the most part I don't pre-write stuff, though I have an outline of what I want to showcase.  When the post starts rambling or you can tell I'm hurrying along, it means I just want to finish it.  So I still enjoy it, but I'm admitting I will probably never reach the levels I once did, and if I did, I'm not sure how I could do it or sustain it.  That said, I do have 2-3 long term projects I want to work on but just haven't done.  I also would like to do custom cards again at some point, but I don't watch sports like I use to, so I haven't thought about who to put on the cards.  I never thought about it until just now, but maybe a non-sport Frankenset of some of my favorite actors and singers would be a cool custom card idea.  I will probably forget about it in a few minutes, but its something I should consider.

I think that's enough rambling for now, I guess we should look at pictures.  I don't really know what my title of this post implies, but I guess it could mean for once I have some cards to show.  It wasn't even something I expected to find.... I didn't even find them, my sister did.  This past weekend she wanted to take my mom and I to the state capital of Missouri- Jefferson City.  Well, she didn't want to take us to the capital, but to the city.  We don't go there very much, and in fact my mom and I didn't have a huge desire to go (I mean I liked going, but no plans of what to go to), but I remembered my sister has been enthralled with Youtube videos recently of stuff to find at Dollar Tree.  I mean they are kind of fun to watch, but its not an avenue I've gone down yet.  I mean I'm not judging, I subscribe to people who solve sudoku puzzles, mow lawns & sometimes power washes, a guy who buys cars (even though I'm not a car guy), a guy who shows how to fix and detail cars (again, I'm not a car guy), people who play video games, Mr. Beast, resellers, and a Japanese couple who shows off food and rates it.  Plus whatever random stuff I'll find, like Botchamania (a wrestling series that showcases wrestling mistakes), and Jim Cornette (a former wrestling manager who is a bit out of touch but has the most epic rants ever).  I have no room to judge viewing habits on Youtube.  Anyways, I knew that Dollar Tree would be on the list of places to visit in the City of Jefferson, but I wasn't sure where else.  As I do before any trip somewhere where I have advanced warning, I look at Google Maps and see where we can visit.  Jeff City has many places to go to, but being the holiday season, I didn't want to get too far into town and also there we like 700 parades in the Mid-Missouri area on that day, and I tried my best to dodge them.  I love parades, but not a fan of crowds, especially the holidays.  So going in, I found Jeff City had 3 Dollar Tree stores, one on the south side of town, so I crossed that off.  The other two was on the same road, and we very easy to get to (if I could give good directions).  I also figured we could hit the Goodwill store and possibly Five Below.  Getting there we'd go through a couple towns we were more familiar with and a few places if the trip was shorter than anticipated.  I like to plan for a lot of places then cut them out as time permits as opposed to finding 1 place and winging it.  I do this because once we are on the road, I don't use my phone (I limit it because I want to enjoy the moment, but also have a Tracfone, and don't want to use data or minutes).  Though recently I have found places that I can connect to their WiFi and Walmart has become a bit more fun.  Anyways, for trips, I don't use maps once we leave.  My sister trusts me, but also has GPS so she could use that.  ANYWAYS, RAMBLING.... As soon as we got to Jefferson City, I knew the how to get to the places, but also knew of a weird road that isn't a great interchange for people not familiar with it, and I suck at stoplight directions (I always suggest the wrong lanes).  So I took us past our exit, but on purpose and hopeful it would make it easier.  It turned out it did, though left turn lanes with no stoplights suck.  Anyways, we get to Dollar Tree #1, and its possibly the nicest one I've ever seen.  Huge, clean, well stocked, and even wide aisles.  In addition it wasn't even busy so easy to navigate through.  Since movies aren't readily available anymore at Dollar Tree's, I usually look for socks.  On this day though, after we got inside, my mind went blank basically, and I just browsed at everything.  In fact by the time I found the socks, I was like "Oh, yeah, the thing I wanted to find".  At this store, there didn't seem like very many, and the ones I had was either ones I already had or ones I wasn't interested in.  That's fine.  I still found other items.  In fact I found a Christmas gift for my mom, that she will love.  In fact she mentioned last night she debated getting the item and I had to play cool like I didn't see it.  I also found various items I've never seen at a Dollar Tree.  While not everything was $1.25, it was probably the size of one of those combo Dollar Tree/Family Dollar stores yet all had Dollar Tree tags.  Honestly, if I thought my mom could make the drive, we would probably go once in a while.  Anyways, I don't think it was this store my sister spotted the cards, but my goodness this is a lot of writing with no pictures.  Let's see them and I'll continue the story.

My first thought was 5 cards in a pack?  Actually my first thought was "BASEBALL CARDS AT A DOLLAR TREE?".  I noticed they were 2023 cards, but I didn't care.  I didn't need these or an overwhelming rush to open cards, but finding them was enough to make me want to get them.  This was at the second store, but here was what I found inside.  I was just hoping to find a Royals card and maybe a player I like (which tbh, in 2024 I don't know many players anymore).

The first pack wasn't bad, I have heard of most of the players, but again, 10 years ago I'd know all about them, these days I've just heard their names, aside from Justin Turner who I probably know a bit better.

The second pack I think the Michael Taylor card was the second one I saw, and was happy to find a former Royal.  Then I think the fourth card was the Kris Bubic.  Since its been so long since I've opened baseball cards, this might be my first Bubic card.  I really don't know the last time I opened a pack of baseball cards.  Overall I was happy with what I got.  I have other cards to show one day but I think most are non-sports.  I don't even know what I've shown and haven't in the last four years, so one day I might just start showing off my entire collection again.  

So I guess back to the story as it happened. That first Dollar Tree had a lot of variety, and a lot of stuff I may have bought but on this day I didn't.  One quirk I have is I don't usually eat before I go somewhere because I have I guess digestive issues (never been diagnosed, but you kinda know what I mean).  Anyways, I try not to eat before trips, but on this day I was starving.  I looked at the food but didn't want to get stuff, even for later.  Having said that I did find a couple things for other people that I thought I'd show.  I enjoy Slim Jim's (or probably more Jack Links), and I found one that I never saw before, but didn't look appealing to me.  It's a flavor that seems popular but one I never thought sounded that good.

I love dill pickles, but products like Dill Pickle chips sound horrible to me.  However my mom does enjoy dill pickle products, and will indulge in a Slim Jim from time to time.  She told me last night that she was not a fan of it though.  Besides being really hard the smell was really strong.  So I doubt I would try it.  Lately I've enjoyed Jack Links more than Slim Jim because Slim Jim either seems really hard or really greasy.  I think a year or two ago I tried Turkey Jerky or a Turkey stick, made by Butterball, I wouldn't recommend that either.

The other product I found was for a friend. He likes trying drinks.  The more outrageous the better.  While I admit in the past I did too, these days I'm much more conservative.  Especially if they are loaded with sugar.  I do remember one year maybe 2004 trying the Jones Soda Thanksgiving drinks.  It was 5 bottles and I forgot what they were.  Looking it up maybe it was 2005.  They had Turkey and Gravy, Pumpkin Pie, Cranberry, Wild Herb, and Brussels Sprouts soda. 3 were okay, 4th one wasn't good and that last one was horrible.  Anyways, these days I don't drink much soda, but on occasion drink some Mountain Dew Baja Blast.  On this day I found something I would never try.  In addition to blue flavored (usually blue raspberry which literally makes me sick), I try not to do many sour drinks.

This looked perfect for my friend, but besides being sour, I was turned off by the 62% added sugar content.  They had a red (probably cherry or punch flavor not sour but also the same sugar content).  This oddly wasn't the worst sugar drink either, they had cans of Cotton Candy Faygo which was like 68%, and another soda a punch that was like 78%.

My friend told me he actually enjoyed it and would probably get it again if he saw it.  I'm happy for him, lol.  I get enough sugar from Kool-Aid and tea that I don't need that much more.

The best part about this first Dollar Tree was my sister actually found a few items she was searching for for quite a while and never found.  So I was happy that this trip was worth it.  In fact this was the Dollar Tree we would have likely skipped if we only went to one not knowing what it was like.  The other one was closer and in theory easier to access.

After we left the next stop was the other Dollar Tree.  We spent a lot of time at the first store (maybe an hour or more) and while we could have gone to more stops, I made a judgement call to skip Goodwill and Five Below.  My mom and sister didn't care about the Goodwill on our last visit to Jefferson City, and my mom isn't a big fan of Five Below.  I'm indifferent, but also figured if we spent even half the time at this second Dollar Tree, we might hit a parade or two on the way home, and don't really want to be caught in traffic.  In hindsight, we wouldn't have and could have bypassed both parades we'd encounter.  Oh well, I don't think we missed out on anything at those stops.

The road as I said earlier for both stores was the same, but what worried me was an intersection that is a bit tough to navigate.  In fact I was worried about that and that spurred my quick decision to skip the Goodwill and Five Below.  As we approached the intersection though I realized we wouldn't have to actually fight traffic there since we was going straight.  Only turning lanes would deal with it, so crisis averted.  

I would imagine for someone not use to that intersection, that would be a bit daunting.  That was also the same one I purposely skipped past in hopes of an easier way, and it worked out both times.

So we arrived at the second Dollar Tree, and as soon as we walked in, this was what I expect from a Dollar Tree, much more cramped, older looking, small, and also very crowded.  However this one did have a self checkout, which my sister really liked.  I have nothing against self checkouts, I just don't personally use them much, unless I have like 2 items.  I'm not like those people "you should pay me if I have to do all the work".  Though I also think there should be more cashiers at checkout lanes.  Also quick rant, its dumb making people using self checkouts before a certain time (looking at you local Walmart).  I have 35 items in a cart with a maybe a foot of space to put the items  and bag it and put in my cart, then half the stuff isn't scanning, while 4 workers are standing around waiting for their morning meeting.... AHHHH.... sorry ranting, let's move on.

This second store did tend to snap me back into my senses.  With the first aisle or two pretty packed, I decided to search for the socks.  This one had a lot more variety, and actually ones I never saw before.  I have to admit I haven't hung all my recent sock finds lately.  I'm working on a better way to bag them and thought I had a solution, but the bags are too big.  So until I find a better solution, I've stopped bagging and hanging them.  I have about 20 pair I haven't hung, and at this point I'm forgetting what I have.  So I was cautious and probably passed some socks I don't have.  In the end I found some good ones, even a pair of Christmas ones.

I really like Baja Blast.  Its a good flavor, but I also realize I can't drink it all the time, so I get it maybe once every year or two.  The Cap'n Crunch one might display the name and logo better than any I've ever found, though I do wish it had more than one background color.  Having said that, I still like it.  The Bubblicious might be my new favorite.  It not only has the name and logo brilliantly displayed, it has a variety of colors and I don't think I could improve it anymore.  What is interesting is these seem like older batches of the socks because they don't have the price listed on them.  My sister told me there must have been a lot of complaints on the newer style that has the price on them, because now they redesigned them again with the price but you can tear that off.  I have all three of the looks, and I will show you more of the socks later including the Christmas one.  I took pics of all the socks I haven't hung yet, so I can remember them now.

As for anything else I don't remember finding too much more from this store aside from the baseball cards.  I mean its what you'd expect from a Dollar Tree, but I think if we went to this store first, we might not have wanted to go to the other.  Maybe next time we might venture to the third location and skip this one.

Again I found socks and baseball cards, so it wasn't a total bust.  Also next door to the location was a Natural Grocers store.  It isn't my sort of thing, but I didn't think my mom had ever been to one, and she eats much more healthier then I do, so I figured if they wanted to go, they could.  Around this time I also was started to not feel good I assume from not eating as it was around noon or later, and I'd been up probably since 4 AM.  Needless to say I didn't find much at the store, but I think I did find some crackers that I actually enjoy called Mary's Gone Crackers.  My sister got them long ago for my mom, and one night I needed some sort of snack.  Weary of them I tried a couple and actually liked them.

Found the picture on their website.  On this date I didn't get the original, but another flavor.  It was just as good.

There was however one item I found that I had to take a picture of, for a friend.  I have heard of this product before and seen pictures, but never seen it in person.  If you are a Simpsons fan, you're in luck.

I wasn't expecting the Holiday Nog version.  It has no mention of Vitamin R though.

Overall it wasn't a bad store, but I don't think my mom was super impressed.  However she was very happy to buy some Bok Choy.  I have no idea what that is, and I like to keep it that way.  I did have to find recipes for her on how to prepare it, and that was enough for me.

At this point it wasn't real late, but I didn't want my sister to hit traffic on her way home and I was also a bit hungry.  We decided to stop at McDonald's, which is something else I'm happy I don't eat much anymore.  My mom and I talk often about how thing like fast food and soda are something we couldn't live without 10-15 years ago, but now for various reasons, don't seem like anything we miss out on.  We treat it as something we enjoy every once and a while and sometimes we don't even enjoy it much when we get it.  Having said that, I would like to stop enjoying potato chips as much, but thats another story.

On the way home though there was one other stop, in hopes of finding an item that might solve my sock bagging issues.  There is a bin store that actually had a vacuum sealer, and it was $7 on this day.  In hindsight, I probably should have asked to stop there first since we passed it on the way, but I didn't and it was already gone by the time we got there. So it goes.  They had a few items that wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything we needed.  My mom always asks if I want to go there, but on I tell her I'd rather find 20 items on $1 day that I might want, then 10 items on $7 day that I really want.  I for the most part can talk myself out of buying stuff, so that helps.  I think if we lived it Tipton, where this store is located, I would go there much more often especially to find stuff to resale.  I came up empty on this trip there, but overall I was happy with how the day went, so it was time to head home.

I had a great time, but I didn't take many pictures because let's face it I went to 4 stores, not much sightseeing, and those stores were Dollar Tree's, groceries, and a bin store.  Not much to show.

However I've written a lot and I figured I would show the recent additions to my sock collection.  I also have a few books to show.  The first one is a book my sister bought me.

WHOO!  She found this on a recent trip to St. Louis.  She knows I'm not a big fan of Ric Flair these days, but I did tell her that this was a book I had my eye out on.  It's the book where he called Mick Foley a "glorified stuntman".  My interest in it is more of stories of Dusty Rhodes and Harley Race.  It is a bit concerning that Mark Madden edited it.  I'm not much of a fan of his.  I'm not sure when I'll get to this but it should be a fun read.

Yesterday I bought a few more books.  I thought of making a separate post, but eh. Let's see it now.

Books are 4 for $1 at Savvy Seconds, my local second hand store. I think my mom found a couple books and a couple cookbooks and I found these.  Cookbooks I'll show next time, along with the CD's.  The Baseball card book goes well with the Football card book I have from I think 2005 or so.  Sure the prices are outdated, but a nice time capsule to see how cheap you could have found some cards during the junk wax era, or the end of it.  The Jerry Kramer book was more of a last second add to get to 4 books. It was either that or a Tatum O'Neil book, and while I liked the Bad News Bears, I kinda felt I'd read this one sooner.  Maybe next time Tatum.  I have a feeling I'll read the Orel Hershiser book sooner than the Kramer one though.  I've always been a fan for some reason, and I was a bit excited to find it.  Having said that, I've been in a lull of reading books lately so I'm not sure when I'll read any of these.  Though if I read any of these first, either the Ric Flair book will be first, or the Johnny Cash one will.  Ever since Walk The Line was released I've really been into Johnny Cash.  I think I'll like this book.

The reason I'll skip the CD's this time is because I might talk about music and stuff more, and I've felt like I've typed forever.  I didn't take pictures of the cookbooks (yet) but I can always include it in one of the projects I mentioned earlier I want to work on. I did promise socks though, so SOCK IT TO ME!

I've stated in the past that I don't want to start collecting non-food socks.  I've been pretty good at passing up ones I've kind of wanted, but a few I can't.  It started with a pair I've shown before of Scooby-Doo.  It reminds me of my nephews and how they always wanted to watch Scooby, so non-food socks will be likely tied to memories.  The Monopoly pair my mom and sister got because it reminded them of my dad.  My dad liked board games, but the memory itself is more because of the Monopoly Nintendo video game.  The game on NES you could play with 1-8 players, and most of the time he played by himself against the computer opponents.  On occasion my sister or I would play too, but it was mostly by himself.  My dad wasn't big into video games, but the two he liked was Monopoly and Dr. Mario.  He would play in his bedroom and you would suddenly hear him cussing out Irwin.  Who was Irwin?  Well, Irwin was one of the computer opponents, and on most occasions the arch-rival of my dad.  So finding these socks is a good memory.  The Taz socks also remind me of my dad.  While he wasn't a big fan of the cartoon, the memory is that my dad was a garden tractor puller.  So you've seen or heard of tractor pulls where a big tractor would pull a sled with weights and whoever pulled the longest distance would win.  Well they did this for garden tractors (or lawn mowers) as well.  After my dad stopped competing in demolition derbies his new hobby was garden tractor pulling.  On one or two of his mowers he had Taz on the front.  After he passed away, his mowers were sold to a neighbor who ended up pulling as well (and in the last couple years also passed away), but we kept the front aluminum panel my dad had on the front with Taz on it.  It is hanging on my wall as we speak.  Since I redesign my wall hangings I think I will have a more dedicated space for my dad.  It will be on the same wall as my other sister who passed away.  They were one in the same, and it will be nice to finally have a space for my dad instead of just randomly about.

The Christmas one I got because not only did I want to have a pair of Christmas socks, I have a feeling at some point I might want to take the socks down during the Christmas season to display other stuff (not this year but maybe future years), and I wanted to at least show one pair of socks during the season.  The other reason I got this pair in particular is because of the saying.  One hobby I've picked up on in recent years has been Sudoku.  I really enjoy them but have to be in the mood for them.  However after doing them for a while, they kinda seem repetitive.  A bit like a Rubiks cubs, they are all the same, just different starting points.  Anyways about a year before Covid hit, I found a Youtube page of a couple guys who posted two videos a day (one for each guy) solving Sudoku puzzles.  The thing is though they had different rulesets for each puzzle (they never do the same puzzle, just different ones each day).  So you really need to understand the rule sets each time you watch, but after a while of watching them you understand them.  Things like black dots, white dots, Kropke circles, things like that seem common.  Anyways one of the solvers named Simon I really liked (nothing against Mark, but Mark doesn't show as much personality as Simon).  Simon has a lot of sayings and in fact there is a bot (or there was) that would tally up how many times he's say them in a video.  Since they are both British, I assumed they were British sayings, but I'm not so sure.  Anyways, Simons says things link BOBBINS! or "thats 3 in the corner, losing its religion", or others that makes it interesting.  I don't watch as much though I've started getting back into it lately, but on each video after his announcements, he reads the rules for the puzzle and then says "now I get to play, LET'S GET CRACKING".  So when I saw this my first two thoughts were "ooh, Christmas", and "Bobbins, I need that".  If you enjoy Sudoku, the channel name on Youtube is Cracking The Cryptic.  They also do Wordle in a minute, and the Sunday crossword puzzle (I think the London TImes).  Its worth checking out once.  While I'm not great at math, for a while I was doing pretty well.  These days I try to solve the puzzle without watching, but if I get stuck I can always watch to see how to solve.

Anyways lets see more socks.

These were the newest additions I just got yesterday.  Notice the tear off prices on them.  Besides the Baja Blast socks, I already have another pair of Mountain Dew socks, but I like these better.  The Hawaiian Punch one I like but seems a bit plain, and I'd prefer to have the wordset on the socks too.  Still glad I found it.  The Cheetos Flamin' Hot look real nice, but the yellow doesn't seem right for these socks.  I don't know what other color would work though since red would clash with the actual Cheetos.  There are still really cool.

I noticed a quality control issue around the time the put the price on the socks.  The Mountain Dew is the most egregious and the reason I've passed on more socks more recently.  I got them though because Mountain Dew is the one I've wanted since I started collecting.  I'm glad I got the upgrade.  The Pepsi one would look much better with the wordset being able to be seen together.  Overall though I like it.  I think the Fanta one works the best of the three.  Having said that, I've never been a Fanta fan, but they were the best of the bunch the day I bought them.

Here are more recent ones I haven't bagged yet, some I've shown before.  I'm glad I have two variations of the Reese's ones, I wish the Twizzlers ones would have looked better, instead it looks like a red pair of socks.

I really like the Cheez-It ones even without the word set on the socks.  The Junior Mints are nice too, and they remind me of my mom, she loves Junior Mints.

At this point I'm not sure what ones I'd like to find. Mountain Dew was the big one, and now they make so many I can't think of what I don't have that they've made.  Dr. Pepper?  Snickers?  Who knows.  I had a list of ones I knew existed but not sure where its at.  I also had a list of what I have so far, but now with variations I'm not sure its worth keeping up.  I think the best bet might be if I can ever seal the bags like I want to take a picture of each pair and stitch it together so I know what I have.  Maybe I'll do that.  Maybe make a pdf book of what I have, that might be fun.

For now though I think I've written enough, and I'm a bit tired so I'll wrap it up.  Thanks so much for reading, and I hope everyone has a nice holiday season.  I might have another post or two before the end of the year but don't expect it.  I might plan on those projects next year.  For now I'm still trying to find stuff on Newspapers.com, and have a few streaming services that I want to watch stuff.  When those subs runs out I might have more time to work on projects.  So maybe around April next year I might have more time to work on them.  At any rate, this blog might be dormant from time to time but it isn't going anywhere.  Thanks so much and have a great day!