Friday, September 27, 2013

Frugal Fridays: My Precious Lord of The Rings Finds

Got some great Lord of The Rings books to add to the collection.


The first one was a gift from my Dad. He got it for just $2! The Tolkien Illustrated Encyclopedia is great. It includes history,  characters, creatures, and places of interest. It's fun to flip through the creatures section and freshening up on my mythical beast knowledge. I don't think you can know too much about Ents.

I love the art work.




Not how I imagined Azog.
Eagles to the rescue!

Beorn is HUGE! When I first read the Hobbit I imagined him being normal bear size. Pretty rad though!


I was excited to see this illustrated The Hobbit, also 2 bucks at the DI. The illustrations are great and there are in all! I'm totally gonna read this to Ava when she's a little older. 

That's all for this week kids. Tune in next week for Mason's October Blogathon! On October 1st it's Slime Time! Thanks for watching!

Thursday, September 26, 2013

D.I. Joes, Part Deux (all the non-toy items)

Last week I shared some amazing toy finds from my Monday morning D.I. Visit. Now it's time to share with you the not as amazing but still rather cool, I guess, not toys I picked up.

Here goes:

I know what you're thinking. What the crap!?

Yeah, not nearly as cool as the toys. But this first item is very...interesting.

What the wha!?

For just one dollar I got this interesting coin purse. You never know when you might need a quarter or two to lay down on a sweet arcade game, crane game, or a cheap toy vending machine. Now I can keep all my loose change in this "lucky pouch". It's from Australia and it's "genuine kangaroo"! That is all I will say on the matter. I will let you, the reader, decide what this is, I shan't say.

As a bacon lover I just couldn't resist.

Not as good as bacon, but I do love a good steak! Oh hey, you can see my phone!

We've gone from loving pigs, to cows, then to teddies? Huh?

And of course, if you love livestock and teddy bears, then ut stands to reason you love Raggedy Anne.

The heart block looks pretty nice on the chalkboard. I actually found this chalkboard for free a year ago.

Whether you feel a hankering for pork or beef, or if you just want to tell the world you love teddies or dollies, then this thing-a-majig has you covered! My favorite side of the block is, of course, I heart pig. :D

I wonder if I could find that at the D.I.
And lastly I picked up the 100th issue of Elle Decor. You know, for my wife. Design magazines are great for getting interior design ideas (duh), but who wants to pay full price for a stinking magazine? Snatched this up for just 50 cents. 

There! Now that wasn't so bad, now was it? 

Someone beat me to the punch on this one. Dang it! The typewriter hunt continues.












Tuesday, September 24, 2013

List O' Pet Peeves


Let’s all take a deep breath this week and let off a little steam. This week’s assignment for the League of Extraordinary Bloggers is… — Pet peeves.


I really like this weeks assignment. It reminds me of something I read in MAD magazine once. Well, if there's something my honey and I like, it's a good list, and I have a butt load of pet peeves, so here goes nothin'! This will be my longest post ever!

When items are WAAAY overpriced at the D.I.

When someone calls LEGO bricks "Legos".

When my wife makes me drop whatever I'm doing and kill a spider for her. 

When my daughter pulls my arm hairs.

(I'm gonna catch a lot of flak for this one.) When people talk about The Big Bang Theory like it's so funny and amazing. It isn't and it's not! Watch the IT crowd! Moss is hilarious! Sheldon is NOT FUNNY!!!

When people say "BAZINGA"!

When Netflix only has one season of a great show. Come on, you only have season one of Samurai Jack!? Why Netflix? WHY!?

Wet farts.

When someone asks me my name and they think I answered "Macy" or "Jason".

When great cartoons, like Adventure Time and Regular show, have toys that are made by jazwares. JAZWARES!? WHY!? Worst toy company ever!

LEGO copycat brands.

Impossible to open packaging.

When you can't hear someone and they say "you never listen to me!"

Line cutters.

Overly stringent cut-off times for the McDonald's breakfast menu.

When I find a long hair in my food.

When someone starts smoking right next to me.

When I'm trick-or-treating and someone says,"What are you supposed to be?"

When I'm trick-or-treating and someone says,"Aren't you too old for this?"

When I tell someone I'm going to Comic Con and they ask,"What is Comic Con?"

When I'm buying toys and the cashier asks who they're for and I tell them they're for myself and then they look a me as though to say,"Oh...weirdo."

When I tell people that I blog and they don't know what a blog is.

When old folks complain about how much better things were in "the good old days".

How things aren't as good as they were in the good old days.

When people think anything that is animated is "just kid's stuff".

When you almost beat a video game, die, and then have to start from the very beginning. RAGE QUIT!

When someone becomes way overly competitive when playing video games/sports/board games.

When people get way too carried away with a list.

When people hide corny jokes within their lists.

People that think anything fiction is a waste of time and that only non-fiction books are worth reading.

When someone says,"Video games will rot your brain out!"

When someone says,"TV will rot your brain out!"

When someone says,"Candy will rot your teeth out!"

When someone says,"You shouldn't eat meat, it's bad for you!"

When someone says,"I was a total nerd in high school!" and they totally weren't.

Being labeled.

When people are sarcastic

When someone is overly sensitive.

When I get called into work on my day off.

When I get called into work early.

Road rage.

Sticky floors.

A messy house.

Bad hair days.

Chaffing.

Mowing the lawn.

When you wake up and your arm's asleep.

When your foot falls asleep.

When someone reads over my shoulder aloud.

Facebook poke wars.

When someone almost immediately after meeting me calls me "shy".

Someone laughing at their own jokes.

When popcorn gets stuck in your teeth.

When my teeth get stuck together and I can't open my mouth because I bit down on a Jolly Rancher really hard for about 10 seconds.

When it hurts to laugh and people keep making you laugh.

Trying to hold in a laugh.

When my fingernails get to long.

Carpal tunnel from typing and video games.

When I can't find lost items.

When someone says,"I hate to say I told you so."

When baby keeps me up all night.

When the barber messes up my haircut.

When I pour a bowl of cereal and then find there's no milk.

When the word "there" and "their" are used incorrectly.

Clip show episodes.

When a cricket is loose in my room.

The Head On commercial.




The peanut butter jelly time Lunchables commercial.





The way Jar Jar Binks talks!

Everything about Scrappy Doo!





Pitfalls in Animal Crossing.

When old people try to use hip slang.

Getting Rick Rolled on Youtube.

Loosing action figure accessories.

LAG!

The Annoying Orange cartoon series.


"10 minutes of ____" videos on youtube.









Okay, I'm gonna stop there. Man, I'm easily annoyed. I guess I'm not the only one though!


Brian of Cool and Collected lays down some of his pet peeves of TV watching.

Check out some pet peeves regarding unreturned shopping carts, movie trailers, and restaurant drink selection at Cavalcade of Awesome!

Monday, September 23, 2013

Monday Madness: Dollar Store Ooze Run

If you tuned in to the last Frugal Friday then you may remember my beautifully disgusting new Muck Man. Well, as you know, Much Man has some awesome ooze features. You know, because he's not nasty enough already.


So, the next best thing to finding Muck Man's companion figure, Joe Eyeball, would be getting my hands on some Retromutagen Ooze (sold separately, naturally). The sad thing is they don't exactly make the stuff anymore. It can be found on eBay, but it's a pricey collector's item, and it's also known to loss its viscosity over time. So what's a guy to do? I searched around the interweb a little and found you can make your own Retromutagen Ooze or Ectoplasim. Hmm, that could be a possibility if it came to that; but I'd much rather have something that's pre-made and ready to go.

Just when it seemed like all hope was lost or something, Eric, of Toyrific, informed me that Ooze type toys can often be found at dollar stores! So today, after work, I stopped by our local Dollar Tree and lo and behold they were fully stocked with BARREL-O-SLIME, and it's freaking glow-in-the-dark! YES! I was so stinking excited! I just couldn't believe they had slime, and 3 types no less! They had green, red, and a mystery color (the 3rd type was in a black container that was not at all transparent), maybe blue?

Just beautiful

A mighty fine barrel. The "CAUTION" all over is a nice touch. I plan on returning to buy the solid black barrel.


I decided green would be most fitting for now. When I finally got the slime home I found Muck Man was even more excited than I expected. I had luckily picked his favorite flavor-o-slime.

Wooooooooooooo!

Glow-in-the-dark, baby!

It really is no wonder we never had this as kids.

Easy there tiger!


He wanted to dig in right away, but I want to save The Slimening for the up and coming October Blogathon. The Slimening will commence on October the 1st. There will also be a surprise guest! I bet the suspense is just killing you!

Soon my friend, soon.

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Sunday Reflections: When Does Collecting Turn Into Hoarding?



My Dad taught me the joys of collecting at a young age. He has so many awesome collections, from vinyl records to stamps, coins, and of course plenty of comic books, trading cards, and toys. I was hooked on collecting as soon as I could walk. Rock collections, bug collections, toys, comic books, cards, you name it!

Today I still have many collections and it's a bit hard to keep track of sometimes. My wife keeps my collecting under control and my penny pinching ways help me reign in my collecting. However I've always had the fear of becoming a hoarder. I'm sure most everyone is familiar with the hit reality TV show Hoarders.


WARNING!!! The following video contains nasty hoarders' house footage! Not for the faint of heart!




The Honey and I used to watch Hoarders from time to time and afterwards I would have a strong urge to start cleaning the house and quickly plan out a garage sale and DI donation run. Now a days I can't even watch the show, it makes me literally sick to my stomach (and I tell fart jokes at the dinner table!) and it depresses me! I want to own my collection, and not have it own me. I don't wanna end up being the crazy hoarder man, crushed to death under a fallen stack of toy bins and comics.

This card made my LOL! But then I thought "Am I buying too many GPK cards?



This next video made me almost cry. That poor guy, he just wanted to raise money for his kids college funds. I know it sounds silly, but he thought he was going to make hundreds of thousands off of Beanie Babies! A lot of people thought that, but boy were they wrong. This is why I think you need to be wary of considering collecting as a financial investment, because something like this could happen. It can be like putting all your money in one stock.





My brother and I have always found the junk people scene, from the Labrinth, to be rather interesting. A not-so-subtle commentary on hoarding? Maybe. The documentary clip above has an interesting take on the meaning of this scene.

I think it is possible to maintain a high quality of life while maintaining a large collection, though it can be hard sometimes. Collectable Spectacle is a series of documentaries on YouTube by Flophouse Films. The documentaries chronicle the collections of 2 devout G.I. Joe fans, Airedevon and Mark Bellomo. If you are a serious toy collector I highly recommend watching both documentary in their entirety, they're wonderful! They are a bit long, so pop some popcorn and enjoy your favorite fizzy beverage as you watch on in amazement.



What do all you collectors think about this? Have you ever feared you might become a hoarder? How do you keep your collection organized and in control? Do you focus exclusively on one thing, or do you collect a wide range, like me?

And for those of you that don't collect, do you think collectors are crazy? Should we change our ways and become minimalists? Or is collecting just a great way to have fun, bond with family, and meet new friends?

Let your voice be heard in the comments below!



Friday, September 20, 2013

Frugal Friday: Odd Playskool toy, Madball copycat and more!

Bilbo Baggins

Bilbo goes all Tarzan
I found this weird Bilbo Tarzan toy for 50 cents. He's Zindar, one of many cavemen from Playskool's 1987 Definitely Dinosaurs toy line. I had no idea Playskool made something like this. Strange, but cool!

Meet "Bubba"

Madball looking water toy. Bubba here squirts water out of the gap in his teeth. $1 for Bubba.

Ha-ha! Have at you!
Foot Clan soldier based on one of the original TMNT movies. He's kinda goofy looking. I really like him and he was only 50 cents!

Mommy?

I found a new friend for Blobby. It's none other than Muck Man from the vintage TMNT line! Now I just need to find some Retromutagen Ooze. How did I not have this ooze as a kid? You pour the ooze into the opening in his head and the ooze flows out his mouth and gut! AWESOME! I need to make a video of that! 

I'm so confused here
Did I do this right? He looks...off.

I seem to find a lot of Transformers toys at the DI and I think I know why. They're cool and all, but MY GOSH, they're worse than Rubik's Cubes! They have like a million moving parts! I can never get them to transform fully. Now, my friend Landon, he's crazy about Transformers. He can also solve a Rubik's Cube in under a minute. Coincidence? Bonecrusher and Mudflap here were just 50 cents a pop. 


Lastly, I finally found a decent mug. Here we have the SR-71 Blackbird, the X-men's personal jet. Pretty cool and just 50 cents.

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Ice see you have LEGO bricks.

This week’s assignment from the League: The Find





This week's assignment from the League: The Find.

What was your best/favorite yard sale or flea market find?

Alright, let's dive right in, shall we?

I grew up on garage sales and flea markets. Our Dad would take us kids to the flea market almost every week and I loved it. I looked on in wonder at G.I. Joes, He Man toys, video games, Star Wars figures, comic books, trading cards, X-Men action figures, and antiques. I never really bought much, because I didn't really have any money when I was a kid. I do remember buying a Rattlor figure from the He Man toy line. I have since lost it, but I hope to find him again at a flea market or garage sale.
"Garage Sailing" was also a common weekend activity. I just couldn't believe some of the cool stuff people would want to get rid of! I would always make a b-line for the FREE box. The fun didn't end at garage and yard sales, oh no! Bulk trash pick-up day was a great time to drive around and discover treasures among trash. It was like everyone in the neighborhood was having a FREE garage sale! I recently posted about a great curbside find. You just can't beat FREE stuff!
I have been meaning to have more flea market adventures with my Dad. I loved going to the flea market as a kid and I have many fond memories of our trips there. In the meantime I have been trying to go to as many garage sales as I can and it just so happens I recently had a major find.
I grew up on LEGO (in addition to garage sales and flea markets. :P). I remember building the Classic Space Unitron Monorail Transport Base Train set with my Dad and my brother. We had everything from the Space theme to Wild West. LEGO seemed so much more affordable back then. I loved all the small sets that were basically just mini figures, they were freaking awesome!!!! Large sets were always fun, but over time they'd break apart, instructions would get lost and pieces were scattered through time and space. Some mini figures were lost as well, but they tended to stick around for the most part. 

     (This video always puts me into a nostalgic comma. Pure awesome!)
But enough about my LEGO past, let's talk about "the find". It was at a garage sale in our neighborhood, just up the street. I actually knew the family that was hosting the sale. Their teenage son was in the youth class at church that I taught from time to time. So anyways, there I am searching for something good when I came across this bin and my heart leapt! 
I hope Chris doesn't regret letting his Sunday school teacher buy his LEGO.

LEGO bricks! Always a great find at a garage sale. I instantly asked how much they wanted for it. "$35?" That seemed like a fortune to me as I am super frugal (more like a penny pinching tightwad actually). At this point I hadn't even looked inside. So I opened up that puppy and what did I find?
MEGA BLOCKS!
Half the bin was MEGA BLOCKS! MEGA BLOCKS!? UNACCEPTABLE!!


You tell 'em Lemon Grab!
If you or one you love is an AFOL (Adult Fan Of LEGO) then you know AFOLs hate immitation brands with the burning passion of a thousand suns! DO NOT BUY mega blocks, best lock, k'nex, tyco, kreo, etc. THEY ARE GARBAGE! I know they're cheaper, but they're cheaper for a reason, and that reason is because they are crap! Parents, DO NOT buy these for your children! Dang it, I'm ranting again, back to the story. (I apologize ahead of time for hating on these toy brands. I don't hate them, I just strongly dislike them. If you like the above mentioned brands then that's fine, we can still be friends, I promise! We're totally cool!)
SO, half the bin is *cringe* mega blocks, so I actually went through the bin and started picking out all the mega blocks pieces! They asked what I was doing, and I explained it to them as best I could. I will resist the urge to rant about the fact that they called the mega blocks "legos". After removing the worthless mega blocks bits I was able to talk them down on price. After all, I had just removed half the "legos". I was able to talk them down to $20 and walked home with a fine bin of LEGO bricks (not legos, sorry, AFOLs are very anal about this point. You can still call them Legos, I won't get offended) I still paid more than I wanted to, but I knew the family and I was just thrilled to have some vintage LEGO.
Nothin' like a tub o' LEGO!

The bin in question. I was most excited to see Ice Planet pieces. Ice Planet is my all time favorite Space theme. I love the color scheme, blue, black, white, and that amazing translucent orange!

Here are some of my favorite mini figures that were included in the bin, but certainly not all of them.

My Ice Planet crew amongst others in my toy community

I mixed in the Ice Planet figures from the bin with my current collection. I now have a mighty fine Ice Planet crew to play Brik Wars with. I actually wish there was some snow on the ground, then I could snap a proper picture of the crew in their element.

This guy in the middle is my favorite. He looks like he really loves his job!
She's one beautiful captain! 
The second guy from the left kinda looks like my brother.
Johnny Thunder from the Adventurers theme!
Mars Mission Astronauts
These Martian figures are so strange
Officer Lee Gogh, keeping the streets safe.

Left over mega block bits

I'm not the only one with an amazing find. Go check out what other LOEB members discovered:


And many more to come!

Thanks for tuning in! Until next time, happy sailing!