It had to Happen.....

Obama coins, for the "serious" collector. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Obama. I can't wait for him to Ba-ROCK the White House....(yeah, I said it. I had to.) But I don't think I will celebrate by buying up a bunch of cheesy Obama coins. They make coins to commemorate anything anymore.
I wrote a blog a long, long time ago about how horrified I was over the "Twin Towers" coins. Why would anybody want to "commemorate" such a traumatic and sad thing? Actually, I did hear, while in NY, a reason behind some of the commercialization of the 9/11 tragedy. Some of those kinds of things are sold for the purpose a 9/11 fund that goes to the families who lost loved ones there. I guess that makes sense....? It makes it a little less distasteful, although I don't think I would want the death of a loved one of MINE to be so ...I don't know...commercial, maybe?

Ok, I have to go completely off the subject right now to say something that has been in the back of my mind ever since the trip to NY. We had dinner with Jeb, one of my husband's high school friends that we haven't seen since high school graduation. Jeb lives in the area of the World Trade Center and was there during the whole 9/11 event. He told us a story that left me feeling chilled to the bone. He said as people learned exactly what was happening, even those folks in the other burroughs of the city who couldn't actually SEE the devastation, long lines of people started heading to the hospitals, particularly St. Vincent's (the one closest to the financial district) to give blood. Medical personnel flooded the hospitals to set up triage to take care of the wounded. Only noone showed up. The hospitals were eerily empty of victims, because you either got out completely fine and unscathed. Or you did not get out. Jeb said that was the part that he will always remember. The absence of the injured in area hospitals, even as the city mobilized in huge numbers to take care of them as the whole event unfolded.

But about those coins....Do people really buy these things? And what exactly do they do with them? Do they sit in a drawer, forgotten for years on end? Are they hot collectors items? Because honestly, I have NO idea what one would do with a bunch of coins marking specific events. I have read that some of these Obama coins, the ones that are actually colorized instead of just pressed metal, are considered "defaced" and therefore less valuable by serious coin collectors. I guess its a case of "buyer beware". I did find one coin that I am tempted to buy.
I won't. But I am tempted.....

Don't Recycle....FREEcycle!

I just happened to stumble on this website a few weeks ago:

Freecycle

Its divided up into areas, so you can join the one closest to where you live. Anyway, the idea is that you can post offers locally for stuff that you no longer want...the only rule is that it has to be FREE. For instance, we had this huge old buffet table in the study that Bruce was using for storage. But we cleaned out and reorganized things so that the table was no longer necessary. It was just taking up space. So I posted an offer on Freecycle yesterday afternoon, and got at least 30 or so emails in reply. I went with the first one (first come first serve, I guess...?) and wrote an email. And they came and picked it up this morning. How cool is that??? Not only did we not have to carry it or transport it, the guy admitted that he wanted to use it in his study for storage...haha. It should be good for that. It has had a lot of practice.

You can make "wanted" posts on there, too. I think the rules limit you to 1 want a day. But honestly, I just want to get rid of stuff, so I have no plans to make posts trying to accumulate MORE things. The system worked so efficiently though that now I am thinking about what I can offer next....I wouldn't go to the trouble for anything really small. Although I have seen a few posts listing some pretty odd things. One was for a partially used 32 oz bottle of prune juice. Apparently they only used a little and then ...? I don't think I want to know. Who wants an opened bottle of juice though? Even if it is FREE. You don't really know where that juice has been. I seriously would not offer used/opened food items. Also, I have seen some pretty big WANTS, as well. A few people were asking for laptops and tv's. washer and dryers, and even a dishwasher. Good luck with that. But it is a cool concept. I see a lot of offers for gently used children's clothing and sports equipment. As fast as kids grow, I think its really good to share those kinds of things that can be used again.

Sunday

Why do I have dogs again? Somebody remind me quick! It was my day off (I worked Saturday for a friend who had a wedding to attend), and I wanted to sleep in just a little. I'm not a late sleeper, really. For me, sleeping in means 8ish. I get up at 6:30 on work days, so 8 seems luxuriously late. But it just wasn't happening, not with my dogs. Shep started barking at 6:15, using his "hey woman I wanna go outside" voice. He was persistent and growing increasingly loud. So, I stumbled out of bed to let him and Scooter out. Not a big deal, since I stumbled right back into bed and was headed right back into blissful slumber. And then....just moments before I was fully asleep, Scarlet started barking. She was sleeping when I let Shep out, and never even looked in my direction. But now....she wanted out. So I got out of bed, again.....and when I opened the door to let HER out, Shep and Scooter pushed their way back inside, all excited and energetic, leaping and barking like crazy dogs. There was no mercy for me. I finally gave up and made doggy breakfast, because that's really all I COULD do and retain my sanity. For the record, hubby was sleeping through all of this. Soundly. Like even snoring lightly, so I couldn't even accuse him of faking being asleep.

Anyway, Bruce's brother Doug and niece Emily came up and we had lunch with them. Emily just signed with Duke University (she is 16...I think....a junior in high school), so they had been in Durham for a couple of days. Doug wanted to come up and see Aunt Grace. We didn't get to see them for very long. They had a long drive back to Atlanta (8 hours....blech), so there wasn't time to linger. We went to Parker's for those of you who are familiar with this area. Its a barbeque place that is locally "famous" for its eastern NC barbecue. Bruce and I rarely (never) go there by ourselves, but its the most requested place to eat when we have out of town guests so we get our fill of it then....haha. Its not that we don't like it. But when it comes down to a choice of barbecue, we prefer the sweeter, red sauced barbecue that you can get in the western part of the state to the more vinegary barbecue here in the east. Still, they have awesome corn sticks (fried corn bread, a true southern delicacy) and the best coleslaw. So I never mind going there. Doug was a little nostalgic, since he hasn't eaten there in years...a LOT of years. He said it hadn't changed at all.

So, I have today off to make up for working Saturday. We are going to spend it painting the front porch. The weather is perfect for it. Anybody who wants to run by and give us a hand.....we'll be right here and we might even take you to Parker's for lunch.....haha.