Usually I have a long intro and segue into the post, but today is a bit different. As you can tell from the sporadic postings, I just don't have the love for blogging anymore. Now I'm not saying goodbye, because I never like fully closing doors and who knows I may get into the mood again. However if you expect monthly or more posts for me, I am here to say it likely won't be happening. I will probably post a few times a year and at some point I will have a post where I thank my most ardent readers. Again, it won't be goodbye forever, but a chance to say my peace and thank those who have encouraged me throughout the years. I could pinpoint the year I blogged and made a goal of posting more than the previous year and by the end was so burnt out I lost interest, but there's more to it than that. In the last few years I've lost interest in cards as well. I still visit TCDB daily but I'm not sure why. I think I've gotten maybe 25 cards or so in the last year and a half, and maybe 5 in the last 6 months. This is essentially no longer a card blog, but turned into a movie/puzzle blog, and I'm not sure there's much of a viewership for that. ODDLY though I have cards to show today, go figure. Beyond that, I have 4-5 regulars I know who enjoy my posts and then my sister and best friend who check them out. My sister visits enough I can show her stuff I find, and half the time, she's the one who has given me the stuff to show off. My friend I talk to almost daily on Facebook and I can just send pics of stuff to him. I'll feel bad for the regulars though so that's another reason I don't plan to completely stop blogging. It will just mean I won't show EVERY puzzle of VHS I acquire. I've thought about this for a bit, but it hit me the other day when I was looking for frequent reader Jon's blog My Kind of Nonsense. He had a line which I can't find now but it was essentially that he didn't want to be the kind of blogger that only posts but not read others blogs. I got to thinking that the only time I read other blogs is the few days before and after I post. I used to visit daily and while I didn't read every blog on my blogroll, I at least looked at the title and blurb to see if I wanted to keep on reading. Its not the lack of content, but a lack of desire on my part. Here is where I'll call out a couple blogs. I enjoy almost all of Jon's posts on his "nonsense" blog as well as his Penny Sleeves blog. It was so much more helpful when he's tweet new posts on Twitter, but I understand getting off of social media. The other I enjoy on a regular basis is The Chronicles of Fuji. I enjoy his because while the cards he shows off is cool, its his regular flea market appearances that draw me in. Beyond that, I will read others but never on a consistent basis. It's not a knock on any blogger, but more that I just really need to be in the mood to read blogs, and lately I haven't. I feel bad about that.
So I guess I did blubber a lot in an intro, but I do have stuff to show, and I might have more to show sooner than later, but I don't want to to have any high hopes. Today we will start with some cards, then dip into the regular movies and puzzles and even music.
My first Topps 2023 card, and while I don't watch cards as much on Listia anymore, this was one I got. I think this might even be my first Bobby Witt card. I haven't listened to much baseball lately, but did hear them the other night and they won. Maybe I should do that more often, they could use a few more wins.
A couple more Listia wins, and I always try to find cheap Musial cards (same with a few other legends I wish I could have seen). I was pretty sure I didn't own this one, and I still haven't checked but 95% sure I don't. The Fredbird card is not only an oddball which I like to collect, but I try to find cards of him in general. This was given away at an event or something and is a blank back. It was also cheap enough that I couldn't pass it up.
The next two cards are ones I actually bought in public.
A couple weeks ago I visited Midway Antique Mall, and wasn't really seeking out cards, but wasn't too upset I didn't find many. I came to this one booth and they had cards so I looked. Prices were a bit all over the place, but also fair if you collected the players they were selling. I grabbed these for a total of a buck, and I was happy. I liked the embossed Action Packed cards of the 90's and was confident I didn't have this Thomas. I really haven't checked my collection in a while so I forget what I have. On the other hand I 100% knew I didn't have the Pujols. After his return and retirement announcement last year, I knew that besides wanting ALL of his cards, that I wanted at least one from his final season as a Cardinal. This was a perfect card. So a dollar for both was good to me. Technically I got another card from the Antique Mall, but it wasn't the reason for that purchase. It also set me back a buck.
Having been a long time fan of wrestling and NASCAR, I've always wanted something from when the two meshed together. For a while WCW sponsored a car in NASCAR. I found this for a buck and I got it. In the past I would have ripped it out of the pack, but it looks good in the plastic, and since I had to move my display shelf (maybe another post) I figure I will put this on the wall with other stuff. I'm still watching a WCW card on COMC but its been sold out for a long time and I don't want to pay much. Now I should find the Madusa Monster Truck from Monster Jam to display next to this.
The trip to the antique mall was a fun trip. I planned on going this summer but my sister thought it would be fun to go to before school got out and might not be as busy. She was right. It has changed a bit since last time we went (due to a string of burglaries there is a strict no bag/purse policy. I thought they might get suspicious if I took pictures of a lot of stuff with my phone, so I decided no pictures while I visited. Maybe next time. I was hopeful I could find a stereo I had seen there last time (almost 2 years ago), but no dice. Oh well. I had fun, and got a few things, so I can't complain. I also found another set of lawn darts there, which is at least the third time I've spotted some there (I bought one set). I think I might head back in a month or two.
I found some CD's there as well. As soon as I saw this for a buck I knew I was getting it. A dollar just for the theme song was enough, but having Hasselhoff sing a few songs? Sure thing. I haven't listened to it much to be honest, but I will. Another interesting thing is Gregory Alan-Williams, Jeremy Jackson, and Alexandra Paul also were stars of the show, so I'm curious if they sing those songs or are songs played during montages featuring them. Either way I was happy.
Since I'm showing CD's and out of stuff from that trip, I'll show a few other CD's I've got recently.
A couple movie scores I found at Dollar Tree. I liked the movie Eagle Eye and some of the music so it should be good. I never watched Speed Racer, however I picked these up during a sale on movies and music. It was supposed to be 2/1 on CD's which I never looked at the ticket but assume it was. I guess I didn't need either, but they were cheap. I also think they are worth a few buck if I ever want to sell them (another reason I haven't opened them yet).
Speaking of Dollar Tree and movies, I bought a few from that 2/$1 sale, so I'll show them here.
I'll be honest, the only two I heard of before were Killer Elite and Megan Leavey. Leavey I bought for a friend and also because I bought it a previous time and it didn't have the slipcover. The rest of the movies I got to build up my blu-ray collection and because most included a digital copy. Oddly, Unsane is the newest movie, and the only digital code I couldn't get to work. Oh well. I was happy clearing out their movie since the last few months they've been backstocked and until some were cleared out, more boxes couldn't be set out. It worked because earlier this week I went and they had a box or two of movies not there last time. I didn't take pictures but got Clear and Present Danger on blu-ray and the original Space Jam on DVD. Not bad for the normal price of $1.25.
I must have missed a few pictures because I've bought a few VHS tapes recently but don't have pictures. Maybe next time. However I will show off a few completed puzzles.
I think I mentioned around Easter that I planned to do a month of food puzzles. I actually had to start later than hoped, and that M&M puzzle took longer than last time to complete, but still got food month done give or take a couple days of a month's time. The Hershey's puzzle was a recent purchase, and actually was easy to finish. It was also fun. I can't wait to do it again which I might do around Christmas or make it a yearly tradition around Easter.
My mom completed the first three before I had a chance to start, but we have done them before. They are always fun. The bottom one is a new one to us, and it was another fun puzzle to do. We thought it would be a little tough, but my mom did most of the bottom, and the quilt at the top I got done fairly quick. It is a nice spring time puzzle so it might be another yearly one to do. We keep almost all of our puzzles, and when we run out of new ones we redo old ones. Some we enjoy more than others so we plan on working on them more often. We will probably thin out our stash soon since we have a lot of them now, and are up in storage and could use some room.
We have a couple more to show as well. This next one is one I've wanted to do for a while, but finally got around to. It did not disappoint.
The problem with this one was the front of the box didn't show the entire puzzle so the sides took a while to finish. I posted another picture of it because the sunlight hit the Arch perfectly.
There is one final puzzle, that my sister bought for us, and it turned out really beautiful. We are waiting for her to visit to show her, so this might spoil the surprise, but it looks so good in person, the picture won't do it justice.
This one was a lot of fun, and even a little tricky at times, making it a perfect puzzle. My sister likes stained glass, it this has a very similar vibe. Maybe one day we can frame it, but first need to find the right frame for it.
I really thought I had more to show but I guess thats it. I've been moving stuff around recently so I probably have a few things to show. I actually have a few cards to show as well, so I might have another blog soon. After that I'm hoping to have one that might only be fun to me, but my town is having a Sesquicentennial celebration next month (150th Anniversary) and I want to take a lot of photos and videos. If they turn out well and the event is successful I will likely do a blog on it.
At the beginning I mentioned I've lost the thrill of blogging, but I must admit each time I do a post it energizes me. I just hope everyone who reads this enjoys it and while I can't promise that I will ever go back to full time blogging, I also don't plan on leaving forever. Thank you all for reading and have a great weekend. Also I want to say the blogs I mentioned earlier aren't the only ones I read, those are just the first ones I thought of. If/when I do an appreciation post, I will include all those that I follow and read. Again, not leaving forever, but don't plan on posting regularly. Thank you all and hope to see many of you around!
