rockpzazz

Sitting here just thinking about what to post for this month. Listening to 90's music and thinking how I wish I got a chance to shop on Black Friday back in the 90's. I was still in school then, but even still living in a rural area, it would have been tough. I watched an old video of a local fire district putting on a live demonstration of extraction in 1985, and while it was cool to watch the helicopter fly in, I was much more excited to see the brand new Walmart in the background, and a local store called "Place's" in the background. The scenery has changed so much since the 80's and even the 90's, that I wouldn't even know where to begin when telling my nephews and nieces how things once looked. I guess that's how my parents would feel when telling me how it was between when they were growing up to more modern times.

I can tell its August, I'm starting to look at the Black Friday archives looking at the old ads. Only another month or two and we can see the current ones. I can't wait.

It's beginning to look a lot like..... AUGUST! Every where, I go. The heat is 110, looks like I'll be staying in to find some deals on....line! Even in written form, I'm no Johnny Mathis, but oh well. Heat index is over 105 for the second straight day, hopefully some afternoon showers will knock that out.

The local nursing home in my town put on their annual fireworks show last night. I'm not big into fireworks, but they looked nice and sounded much louder than normal. Since my dad passed I haven't done much to celebrate Independence Day, but might have some burgers and hot dogs this year. After feeling down the last couple months, things seem to be getting a bit better, and if the rain and heat don't cause too much trouble I hope to get some work done in storage. Also hope to catch a nice parade later this month.

Another month in the books, and I guess that book would be getting pretty large if you put a whole month in a book since the beginning of time. Nothing really has changed, though I just bought a steam mop, so it will be fun to mess around and clean stuff up for a few weeks.

I think its been raining the last 40 days and the next 40 don't look that great either.

The good part about May is that hopefully snow is done, but now is tornado season. At least I can open the windows for a while and get stuff done in storage. Hopefully it won't be too warm this summer, but at least I might be able to get out a little more than I did last year.

Its the end of April, I guess I better bust out my N*SYNC albums because before you know it.... IT'S GONNA BE MAY!

Happy April everyone. I'm excited and done a little rearranging and spring cleaning and for the first time in a while feeling optimistic that things are starting to look better and I might make more trips out. Hope to hit a couple antique malls later this year and maybe a few garage sales. Not that I need more stuff, but just to enjoy some nice weather.

Just realized I hadn't checked in for the month, I guess that's good because it means I've been busy. February pretty much stunk with a few people I knew passing away (some from Covid, others from other ailments including cancer), so let's hope March is better.

Thought I'd pop in before I have a Bowl of Super tonight watching the Chiefs play in two in a row. Two of my favorite teams growing up was the Chiefs and the Buccaneers, so this is a pretty good early birthday present for me. While I don't root for Tampa anymore, I still can't think of another team I'd want the Chiefs to face. I think it will be good game. Too bad Tampa wouldn't use their throwback creamsicle jerseys.

Happy New Year to all. I was quite surprised to see earlier today that MeTV would start showing Looney Tunes and earlier tonight I got to see one of my favorites- Michigan J. Frog. I think 2021 is starting off on the right foot.

That is a list of heavy hitters there. It would be a shame to see them drop off this early if for no other reason, there may not be as much banter on the posts each month.

A couple hours after posting that I was looking something up and noticed he was fired on Saturday. Shows how much I've followed football this year. Then again I was caught off-guard to see an NFL game on during a Wednesday afternoon too, but 2020 is a weird year.

If this was 1997, I would be totally pumped to see the Lions. I did feel bad as it seemed like tradition watching them play on Thanksgiving, but this year has really made me not care as much about sports in general, so I haven't watched a lot. But since I knew the Chiefs vs. Bucs game would be a good game it was decided that having dinner and watching that would be a good idea. Hopefully next year Kansas City can play on Thanksgiving, that would be a tradition I could get behind. Then again I would probably be more open to watching the Lions if the had a different head coach, I just never cared for Matt Patricia.

I didn't have to buy anything for Black Friday this year, so I pretty much missed out (aside from a few trading card purchases). However, I had a really nice turkey dinner on Sunday (decided to wait until then to enjoy some food and some GOOD football games). Capped it off with some board games and watching some Youtube videos with the family. All in all, it was one of the best Thanksgivings I've had in quite a long time. I hope everyone else had a great one too.

When I was growing up we had a smart thermostat.... it was my dad! "WHO TURNED THE HEAT UP?"

Congrats to all the winners, and good suggestions.

Here's looking to another year of talking to the rowdy crowd of Gottadeal. Can't wait to see what kind of discussions develop in the next year.

Got my package today, I was so happy to get the hat along with all the other goodies. Was going to do a live unboxing, but I didn't have a spot to do it in so I couldn't. The shirt looks great and was the 2017 design. It even had a 2018 mini calendar wrapped inside the shirt.

There is some nice ideas on here, my favorite is the fanny pack. I think popsockets and lanyards are nice too, not sure I've ever seen a Gottadeal lanyard, but really like the popsocket I got last year. Love to get my hands on a Gottadeal baseball cap as well. I also like the ideas for a portable charger, hand sanitizer (even if the virus is over, its still good to keep your hands clean), box cutter or similar tool, highlighters or pens, as well as the cooler bag. I may have won already, but love seeing the suggestions, there are some really unique ideas.

When I worked in fast food, I never had a problem working on Thanksgiving as it was inside a truck stop and some truckers weren't at home so they needed a place to eat. I understand grocery stores being open limited hours and gas stations in case last minute items or gas is needed. I can even understand some big box stores like Walmart that has a good variety of food for sale (good variety meaning quantity not really quality). However, Big Lots does not scream to me "I NEED SOME FOOD FROM BIG LOTS!" Of all years, I think this would be the year they could be closed for the day. Normally I have no problems with stores being open, but this year, I'm fine if most/all stores are closed on Thanksgiving again aside from limited hours gas stations and grocery stores (and restaurants inside truck stops). Having said all that, Big Lots ads always look the same. This looks like a similar ad from a random week in mid-June. Nothing stands out, which makes it even more sad they feel they need to be open for Thanksgiving.

When I lived in a house (the one in my profile pic) I usually had a nice display for Christmas. My dad and sister decorated the other holidays, but I usually took the lead on Christmas. My favorite was the year My dad and I lifted a plywood sled up on the porch roof and had Santa up there. I need to find that picture now. Since moving to an apartment I haven't decorated as much. Still have the reindeer and Santa from the sled, but never set them out. After my dad passed I only decorated for my nephews. After one of my sisters passed and didn't see the nephews much I pretty much stopped decorating. I would like to go big one more time though.

Happy November everyone, hope to see you all in the new thread.

Congratulations to all the winners, some of these recipes look easy enough that even I could do.