Want to buy a Pez Collection?

When do collections become obsessions?  Once we start collecting--stamps, coins, salt shakers, refrigerator magnets--how do we stop?  When is it 'enough already'?
How terrific when family and friends catch on to that obsession--they help to add to it.  It is so convenient not to have to think about a birthday or christmas gift; just look for another teddy bear, or a rare political button.  How about a baseball card? Special baseball cap? Clocks?  Old 78 albums? Rare books? I even know someone who collects cat whiskers! (Don't ask.)

Aunt Louise has many collections but her most extensive must be dolls....

Those boxes all contain dolls, hundreds of dolls.

Some are just darling...

But some are very creepy!

I now have a yardstick for measuring when it is time to stop collecting...

If most of the collection is stored away in the attic because there is no more room;

or if it is beyond the point of being able to dust, 

or even to see.

If it gives you pause...

Or just plain nightmares...It's time for a garage sale!

So I have begun to question my own habits.  Do I really need all those political buttons?  They have always been stashed away in a box and never displayed anywhere.  So what is the point?  I have an extensive 'tin can' collection and I use the colorful printed cans to store food.  (I like the look in my cupboard) However, do I need so many?  

When my last kid escaped the nest, he left behind a couple of those little candy Pez's.  Did I throw them away?  No!  I proceeded to search out more, until today, stashed away in a box somewhere, are many dozens of those cute candy dispensers.  And the candy is terrible!  It tastes like chalk!
Anybody looking for a Pez Collection?  Just call me, I'll make you a deal.



A Family update....

     On October 1st I said a tearful 'Goodbye' to Aunt Louise, her friends...

and neighbors....

       
and headed back to Tucson.  I will only be home a few weeks before heading to California for Ron and Loretta's wedding.

Mary, Jim and Hawaii update:The lava flow is still advancing, very slowly, toward the town of Pahoa.  Jim is back on the Island but Mary is in Italy for the pottery class she missed out on a year ago when she fell off the ladder and broke her knee.  The stress of watching the lava inch slowly toward her community was definitely taking a toll on Mary's nerves so this respite in Italy was good therapy for her.  She will be back home in a few weeks when they will have to decide what to do about their home and belongings.  The blog, Hattie's Web, is still providing the best information on what is happening on the Island.

Sigh Me:  She is fine, but disoriented in so much space.  If she loses sight of me, she will yowl until I answer.  She is looking older and still has not gained back the weight she lost when she was so sick.  So I hug her more often and appreciate that I still have her around even if the yowling gets annoying at times.

Finally, I took the house off the market and will wait a while before deciding to try and sell it again.  That means I will not be traveling as much as I would like but I have a lot of things to catch up on--starting with a garage sale.  Now, where is that Pez collection?