Begging for Birthday Prezzies

Okay, totally selfish blog post here.

I have a birthday coming up and, while I am open to whatever you want to give (or not give as is your choice), I would like to put forth a few suggestions for those who are completely stumped.

Anyone who knows me knows just how much I love movies, movies, movies....and, sadly enough, a lot of TV shows that I collect all decided to gang up on me for the months of August and September.

Let's see....Heroes final season came out earlier this month, and the final season of Lost comes out next week. House season 6 comes out the week of the 30th, followed the next week by Smallville season 9 and Supernatural season 6. Prince of Persia comes out on the 14th, followed by Castle season 2 on the 21st.

Seeing a pattern here? I haven't purchased any of these that have come out or pre-ordered any that are soon to be released....but all are on my "I WANT" list.

Sigh....oh to be rich....or just not addicted to the wonderful world of "moving pictures".

I shudder at the thought of being crass, but I really could use some gift certificates for WalMart or BestBuy (though WalMart is probably the better bet price-wise for these). Or Amazon, should you decide to ship it directly. Oh, and for someone who wants to buy something specific rather than a gift certificate, I have collected these on DVD up until now, so no one feel as if they have to spring for Blu Ray editions.

Of course, for those who don't want to help me rot out my brains, there are always tools. Now that I have a huge-mungeous tool box, I am hoping to add a dremel rotary tool, heat gun and a "mouse" sander (yup, it looks a bit like a mouse with its small size and pointed head) to my tool collection.

For those who want to continue to support the arts, anything to do with encaustic mixed media would be greatly appreciated...including encaustic medium (resin and beeswax beads), heat gun, encaustic iron or books on encaustic method would be fantabulous. Here's a link to a few ideas for encaustics.

Please please please do not feel as if you need to get me anything....these are simply some suggestions for anyone who planned to do something but may be stuck for ideas.

Thanks everyone....my love to you all!

Changes and Apologies

Not only is there is a new look to my blog, comment moderation is now in effect....I finally figured out how to update the site so the spam will stop!

Okay, as for apologies....I am sure you have all received some nasty spam from my hotmail account. Sorry! I am not sure where the spam was picked up, but I feel good about my gmail account not being spammed as I don't use it for anything other than emails. Please delete my hotmail addresses (springvilleshawna and shoezimm) from your accounts....I have already removed everyone's addresses from my hotmail accounts so that, should anyone get into the account again, there are no addresses left for them to spam to. Any emails received from my hotmail accounts are NOT FROM ME AND SHOULD NOT BE OPENED! Any and all emails sent out from me will come from my gmail account. If you do not know my gmail address, post a comment saying so and I will email you from it.

Yard Sale Steals and Crazy Looks

I love to yard sale....oh yeah, big time.



I blame my grandmother. Every Saturday during the summer she'd be armed with yard sale ads in which she carefully circled the sales she especially wanted to hit. I would arrive early in the morning, load up the 'ol lady and we'd hit the circuit. Nothing was safe from being picked up, pondered and then bargained over.



The thrill of the hunt......of finding that one deal you just can't pass up.



This happened to me again this past weekend.



My roommate and I got up early (seriously, yard sales in Utah start at around 7 am!) and hit the streets. Our game plan wasn't as exact as my grandmothers...essentially we just hop in the car and drive around until something catches our eye.



Such as the beauty I got for a total steal.....



Let me explain.



We parked on the street for one such sale that was taking place down a long driveway. Unable to see if anything good was being offered, we decided to give it a shot anyway and walked down the driveway to where we figured the sale was being held. As we came around a tall hedge lo and behold there it was. My treasure.



Oh yeah, it was love at first site. Laugh it up if you want, but I have been dreaming of owning one of these babies since the early 1990's....they are just way to freaking expensive to justify the purchase.



It figures there would be a couple of guys standing next to it, pulling out the drawers and all but kicking the tires as they examined just what condition the tool cabinet was in. I waited off to one side, pretending to examine pieces of flotsam and jetsam, but really waiting for the guys to move off so I could inquire as to pricing. Not realizing that one of the sellers was listening, I sighed aloud an "isn't it beautiful" to my roommate. Immediately the sales gal pounced, "isn't what beautiful honey?" Embarrased, I pointed to the tool cabinet and stupidly repeated, "its so beautiful".



I knew I shouldn't have looked up after this statement....I completely caught the look of, "are you insane?" that she threw my way.


My roommate was kind enough to tell the gal I would use it for craft storage (which isn't entirely true) The gal nodded her head and mumbled "oh, that makes sense", but you could still see the consternation on her face. It was a look that said, "well THIS ONE is certainly a tomboy....imagine, falling for some dirty tool thing".


Whatever.


I asked about the price and about fell over when they asked for $75. Sweet! Even better was bartering them down to $60! I am not entirely sure what they thought when I immediately agreed, and also purchased a cordless drill kit and a pair of needle-nose pliers (for an amazingly low $10 considering the drill looks to be in amazing shape), but they were nice enough to also toss in a set of canning jars for free that I was considering.


We immediately scampered off to borrow my bosses' truck (conveniently parked at work) and struggled to get that bad boy home.


Of course, its not a Craftsman, but rather Husky brand....but one of these tool cabinets easily sells for anywhere between $600-$1500, depending on where you are looking, and this one looks pretty stinking brand new. Apparently their dad bought it to store his stuff, but either kept his stuff in great condition, or he rarely touched it.


Oh yeah, deal of the freaking century.


Turns out it weighs a ton, so I needed help getting it downstairs (its too big to store upstairs and there is no way it was hanging around out in the elements). Luckily the roommate's son was willing to come over after work and help me lug it down the stairs. I started looking in the drawers and there is actually a couple of tools tucked in the drawers that no one bothered to clean out. Nothing amazing, but this girl can't have enough screwdrivers at her disposal.

I am so thrilled to own this behemoth....my tool box is completely jam packed and I have various other items tucked about the house here and there. Finally, I can keep all of my stuff in one handy space.


What's next on the agenda? Well, I've been wanting a heat gun for ages so here's the perfect opportunity, seeing as I now not only have somewhere to keep it, but I have the current excuse of calling it a "present to myself", seeing as we are mere weeks away from my birthday.

Ah, life is good......