Black Monday

Today is Black Monday, at least for Ella, as the last Blockbuster in town goes into clearance mode, no longer renting DVDs, only selling them in preparation to shut its doors forever. 

Ella not only was a member at the store, but also utilized Blockbuster By Mail, a service similar to Netflix, but which had the added benefit of returning the by mail DVDs to the store, and trading them in for an in-store rental.  She used the in-store trades to view current releases, and used the by mail service to see TV show seasons, older movies, etc.  She had honed her DVD system of trades and returns to an art form, and could get quite irritated when the mail service didn’t deliver on time, or her errant husband forgot to drop off a DVD on his way to work.

She’s in mourning now, so please keep her in your thoughts.

Of course, store closings always present thrifting opportunities, and I have picked up many good deals as area Blockbusters faded into oblivion.  We’ll see what goodies this store has to offer in coming weeks.

Speaking of thrifting, I’ve mentioned before that it always pays to keep your “head on a swivel.”  I saw this add in the Books listing on Craigslist last week:

“Pastoral / ministerial home library. Literally thousands of books. Commentaries, histories, fiction, biographies, ministerial aids, references, and countless other types of books, including a number of antique texts dating to the 1800s. This is a lifetime collection of books by a now-90-year-old minister/missionary. If interested, let me know and we can make arrangements for you to see it. Everything will be included in an estate/moving sale Saturday, but I will be available Friday to show the library. Offers on all or part of the library will be considered.”

Now, I could have waited until Saturday to see the books at the estate sale.  However, I’m a firm believer in the old adage that the early bird gets the worm, and quickly made arrangements to see the books on Friday.  The owner let me scan the shelves, and I quickly found a tote full of quality books, including this one:

I then asked the owner about the rest of the house, and he said everything was for sale, and I was more than welcome to look around.  I found CDs, DVDs, and new micro-cassettes, and probably could have found more if I had not been on my lunch hour from my day job.  I spent $50, and hoped no one noticed that I got back to my desk a little late.

On Saturday, Ella and I had planned to sleep in, but the lure of the yard sale proved too strong, and we got out and about a little late, but still managed to find a few treasures.  I spent Sunday packing and listing books, toys and CDs, and getting two boxes ready to send to Amazon for their FBA program.  I also finally listed my large collection of Happy Meal toys that were just given to me at a sale a couple of weeks ago.

It’s a terrible picture, I know, but it was the best I could do.  I really need to work on my Ebay photos this year.

Have a productive week!