Giant VADER in our Living Room

So every so often I go through an experiences that feel out of this world, but in this case this was really surreal.  I never though in a million years I would have a giant inflatable object in my living room, less a giant Darth Vader.  Many people have told me that I'm a very cool chick, others have told me that I'm very understanding. To be quite honest, at the time I wasn't sure how to feel about this giant thing in our living room.  I guess I should go all the way back to the beginning.

 

 

A few weeks back my husband was looking around on craigslist for interesting stuff people post.  Upon his search he came across a posting for this giant inflatable Vader that were used back around 2005 for the Star Wars Burger King promotion.  He thought it would be an amazing idea to get this for a friend of ours birthday, as long as everybody pitches in some mula towards the cost.  At the time I didn't think much of it.  I mean, I remember seeing these Darth Vaders on top of the roof tops of BKs, but I never realized how big it was until now.  Back to the gift part....time passed and we didn't hear back from anybody regarding the gift, so my husband started thinking he was going to sale it to make his money back.  With the re-release of the Star Wars 3D movie around the corner, this might work. So we want to sale it but we didn't have any pictures of it, and here's where the madness begins.

 

The Vader has never been opened, and it weighs about 50 lbs.  This was a two man job. It took us about one hour alone just to inflate the thing.  In the end we had to actually deflate one of the portions so we could fully inflate the head with it touching the sealing.  The Vader was easily 8-12 ft wide by 9-10 ft tall.  It was nuts and kind of nuts. My husband told me I had a look of shook, mixed with happiness, and worry.  I told him I was sweating the giant Vader because I knew that he wasn't planning on keeping inflated, after that it's all gravy. 

 

This has been a fun adventure.

 

 Check out my husbands post on the Vader

http://ragingnerdgasm.blogspot.com/2012/01/what-sith-giant-inflatable-darth-vader.html

The Valentine's Challenge

So Valentines is around the corner and for most people this is a tradition that many of us wish it wasn't around.  Thank you Hallmark for making it worst.  This day have different value to different individuals.

Legal prostitution.  

Paying some one off with candy, flowers, and sometimes lavish gifts in order to get some nookie.  In many cases people just want someone for the day and then you won't hear from then ever again.  If you are truly unlucky they will leave you an unwanted gift that will never go away.  So "Don't be a tool, wrap your tool."

Bragging Rights with hint of pressure

To some member of society (especially men), it becomes a day that many wives, fiance, and girlfriends place a lot of pressure and high standards for a date.  They expect their football, beer loving, nut scratching hobby to all of the sudden turn in to prince charming and come up with a fairy tale date full of cheap romance thrills just so they can go brag about it to their girlfriends or acquaintance.  Really ladies, come on.

Socially un cool.

To single people of any kind (separated, divorced, dumped, or just lonely), this day is like the Scarlet Letter.  Is a social reminder telling you how much you suck for being lonely on this day and put a lot of pressure in the importance of being with someone even if they are not right for you.  You know what I have to say about anybody that gives you hell for being lonely on Valetines day, "GO SUCK ON A LEMON".

Don't give a "Chain Saw"

For many of us this has become just another day we're stuck working. In many cases is great because you are making money and not spending it on junk only valuable for that special 24 hours.

What it should be

For very few individuals it is literally just another day to truly enjoy each others company.  No fancy dinners, no fancy gifts and no unrealistic expectations from the significant other, just each other.

My self and my husband are very low key people.  We don't over value pointless dates that most people put unnecessary pressure on. How ever this doesn't stop us from trying to do very nice things for each other year round.  At this point my husband had given me the greatest gift of all, his trust, his respect, his love.  While I give him the same he has been showing a great new skill, self restrain.  

As you guys have previously read, my husband is currently under restriction from purchasing any new toys.  He has gone one entire month with out buying anything and has been holding true to this word.  Originally he couldn't buy anything until April 1st, but now he's down one week (3/24/2012).  So far he had received one treat, and that was a Gamera we found a the flea market for only $15.  Not to shabby.  Now Valentines Days is coming up soon and I want to truly get him something awesome.  At the moment we are saving for a house. so I've had to find ways to save up funds for something he truly wants.  Solution... I've been pulling $20 out of  each check so I can at least get him something worth having.  However, there is one major problem with this plan, what do you get the guy that owns a lot of toys ? Half the time, if I point something out he would tell me a) I have one in storage, b) I use to have one and it broke, c) I used to have one and it sucked, d) I used to have one and I sold it, or e) I can get one later.  This translate to having to get him something really cool that probably would cost quite some sum of mula.  So you can see the challenge.

This weekend he finally has a weekend off and we are going to the Retro Store that is only open once a month.  I'm hoping I saved up enough to get him something really cool, or maybe several cool things. We'll see.  Other wise I'll keep saving to maybe get him that 1/80 scale Godzilla.  LOL  As for my self I already got my gift.  He bought me new gages for my ears.  I've had the originals for over 10 years and it was time for an update.  I'm very happy. Wish me luck this weekend. :D

Mattel's CRIMINALLY abusing their Biggest FANS.

For most of us Mattel has been a big part of our lives.  Everything from educational toys, dolls, and toy cars are made and produced by the company.  While most of us out grow our love for toys until we have children of our own, some members of society continue to pursue, preserved, and collect part of the toys that greatly influence our growth and development.  These men and women are known as the toy collectors.  While socially they are snubbed by average members of society,  many of them are just everyday men and women that collect as a hobby.

In the past few years Mattel has become aware that they are one of the biggest producers and licencing holders of most of the top popular iconic figures for cartoons, comic books, and sport figures. Knowing this, the company has created a niche for their loyal collectors known as the "Matty Collectors".  The company sales subscriptions at an outrageous price that  guarantees the subscriber at least one of each figure in the series they signed up for.  The series include Master of the Universe, Ghotsbusters, WWE and DC Universe to just name a few.  

For a collector, a guaranteed on a toy they greatly desire and they pay top dollar to obtain, is a dream come true.  However for many of the subscribers this membership has turned out to be their worst nightmare.  My husband included.  Many collectors are receiving products that are low quality, assembled incorrectly with incorrect parts, damages packages, opened packages, missing parts in the packages, over charging on products and at times double charging on products and trying to refund the subscriber with coupons for toys instead of reimbursing their money for the extra amount.  I've seen this first hand, and knowing how much my husband is paying for these figures, he was both pissed off and had a very un-happy wife.

The neglect to their consumers don't end there.  In conventions such as San Diego Comic Con many loyal fans come to purchase exclusive products from the event.  Many of them will stand in line for hours waiting, in hopes to obtain a specific product they traveled long distances to obtained.  In many cases the consumer will wait in one line to obtain a ticket to then stand in another line to hopefully purchase their desire product.  What many of them find out is that the Mattel's booth will pass out extra tickets that surpass their quantity of the products their brought to sale at the convention.  Leaving many their loyal collectors extremely irritated, because they spent hours waiting to purchase a product they were falsely lead to believe they could obtain.

At one point in time waiting for hours in a convention seem like a great investment for a collector.  However the company has started devaluating their own products by simply re-releasing their exclusive products for the conventions weeks later on-line making the whole convention experience completely pointless for many fans of their products who are looking at retaining value into their collectibles. My husband use to get exited every time the San Diego or New York Comic Con was around the corner.  He would glance through the publish list of exclusives and decided weather or not they are worth getting.  This past year he looked at it, considered maybe one or two pieces, and simply told me "I bet you these would be released in stores in a few months".  Boy was he right and the many members of the  on-line toy community were pretty pissed off.  Especially the guys who dropped a fortune and time trying to obtain these figures.  This is just not cool. At this point these pieces are hardly worth being called "EXCLUSIVE".

While this seems completely pointless to the average individual, the behavior is simply unethical.  The company is neglecting their product, selling defective goods, practically stealing money from their subscribers by neglecting to give money back for overdraft quantities and giving them coupons for goods they did not request, and simply inconveniencing their consumers in many ways.  Why do they do this, because they know they aren't that many competitors.  Imagine if Wal-Mart, JC Penney's, Sears, Best Buy or any other major retailer doing this with their costumer service.  You would not be happy eighther. 

As long as I've known my husband, he's always been a member of the Mattel's Matty Collector series, but he finally gave it up and I don't blame him.  The last straw was on his Masters of the Universe series.  Mattel first pulled the money out of his account, then Mattel sends out an e-mail saying the shipment was behind on schedule and it will arrive in sometime in January, then they said they've lost track of were figures somewhere in their warehouse, this was fallowed by a cancellation letter.  At the same time we had learned his friend had received his figure, but he didn't. Not to mentioned the money is still up in the air. I this is just total crap and no one should be treated this way as a costumer.

The Cleaning CHALLENGE!!!!

Anybody that has known me for some time knows that I'm a little bit of a neat freak.  But not the type where the room has a hospital sterile look, but the type were they have an organize mess and is dust clean.  When I was single, this was an easy thing to keep the place tidy, but now is more like mission impossible. Living with my husband has added an immense amount of stuff to clean around the 600 sq/ft apartment. The increase in items has re-triggered my asthma, bad allergies that keep me up at night with congestion and sneezing attacks.   It totally sucks for me, so I had to come up with a way to clean in stages.

Stage 1:  Easy Maintenance

This pretty much basic daily maintenance like taking out the garbage, wash dishes, make the bed, keep the bathroom clean, and do laundry(husband shore) and put it away.

Stage 2: Surface

This involves cleaning counter top, bathroom sink, and vinyl type floors.  Easy to do but it's a little more time consuming. 

Stage 3: Vacuuming

To most people this would be an easy challenge, to me this requires an inspection of the ground before starting to suck up stuff with the vacuum.  First I must pick up everything of the ground. Then, I must make sure there aren't any tiny accessories that have drifted away from on my husbands toys.  This could be something as small as a plastic knife no bigger than a quarter, or at times clear plastic parts that simply can't be seen at first sight.  This require natural light and laying on the ground to see stuff popping off the carpet.  

Stage 4:  Dusting

Easy dusting is the bedrooms toy shelf.  This simply required to be taken down one piece at a time, dust the surfaces and boxes and then find a way to put it all back.  Many of the items are in boxes so is easy to wipe down and put back up.

Hard:  The rest of the apartment is up to my husband.  While this might seem lazy from my part, I'm simply not comfortable touching or moving any of the stuff on the shelves.  He has several eight shelf DVDs cases that have between 10-15 figures on each shelf gently glued by their feet.  You knock one down and down the rest go too.  This is totally not a mess I'm going to get into.

This is my challenge.  I have a week off from work coming up in February.  I must prepare. 

Oranges, Bananas, and GAMERA!!!

So today is officially the 12th day of our agreement. My husband is proving me wrong and I'm very happy about that.  He has gone store hopping for toys twice with his toy collectors friends, gone to the flea market three times, plus hit an awesome retro store and have come home empty handed.  No bags, no hidden stuff in his car and no new stuff at the storage unit. He's been putting extra effort at repaying back his car as quickly as possible and he's just over half way in less than two months.  He has earned another day off his long grounding.  So we have gone down from 4/1/2012 to 3/30/2012.  That is pretty good.   In fact, he has been doing so well that I budgeted some money to the side after bills to get him the "Zaku2" model kit he wanted about a week ago. Instead, he found something better and cheaper that he wanted, a Gamera figure.  

We found it at one of our usual toy booth we stop at.  There it was at the front of the store, a 9" GAMERA figure for only $20.  My husband is a big Godzilla fan and I'm aware that is very hard to find a good Gamera toy at an decent price that is not a knockoff cheap replica.  He looked like a little kid at the toy isle browsing and dreaming of owing some of the cool toys on the shelf knowing very well mom and dad is going to say no if he asked.  It's cute.  

Well today was his lucky day.  Today, I totally did not mind if he bought a toy because he had earned it.  Plus is a figure, that would be very hard for him to come across again.  I did not want him to regret walking away from it.  He could not believe I was giving him permission to purchase this toy, and even was trying to talk him self out it.  I reassured him this time it was all right and his eyes lit up.  What was even better is that the guys at the booth know us very well, and gave us a $5 discount since we shop there often and tell people about their booth.  So this turned out to be an even better experience for him. 

For right now I know my husband is not happy that he can't buy what ever toy he wants, but he values my respect above all.  I truly love him for that.  He also wants us to get a house, so I truly appreciate his self control, his drive, and the fact that he's willing to help our family of two above anything else. I can't ask for more. 

The Man Stash Kingdom

In a  walk, far, far, far away from the apartment (10 min drive), there is every spouses (who is a neat freak) dream come true. A place that you pay to have excess stuff kept safe in a tiny air conditioned unit, that you might look at maybe one in a while when you want to dump more stuff in there or find a hidden treasure you have put away in your secret stash. This magical place is called the Storage Facility,  AKA my husbands "Mans Stash." 

Now don't be fulled by the slick uniform design of this place, to my husband, this place is filled with adventure, hard quests, and riddles just to have access to his toys.  At times is just like a video game, he must pass different levels of difficulties to defeat the hidden "Mess" monster in storage, to reach safely his price toy. This is his story. 

Level 1:  Getting out of bed 

Depending on how determine my husband is to find something in storage, his starting point may vary.  It depends on several factors, a) how badly he wants this item, b) does he know where is it located (lose, in a box, totes, or unknown), c) how deep does he have to go in order to accomplish his quest.    Once this has been determined, he could leave anywhere between 9 am to 11 am and might not return from his mission until an unknown time.

Level 2:  The Gates of the Storage Unit.  

At times this would be an easy feat, but it also comes with it its challenges.  He simply must remember the answer to the gate riddle  or have it in a tiny scroll (business card) in his pouch (wallet)  that will allow him to proceed into the kingdom of the storage unit.  If he doesn't have the secret code, he must go on a side quest to the front office and talk to the Keeper of the Gate known as "Dave".  This side quest is a timed base quest. If he comes after the sun has set, he must wait until morrow to continue this journey or find the tiny scroll before the gates are permanently sealed at the 21st hour. 

Level 3:  Pass the Gates

Once in, he might have easy access in or might have to face the first riddle of his journey. If our hero comes empty handed, he simply dismounts his transport (car) at it's designated spot (parking spot) and just ventures in to the building ready for the next challenge.  If he posses treasure to be escorted in, the new riddle begins.  

Challenge #1) Finding a cart.  This is a time base challenge as well.  Seasons, time of the day, and stealth plays a big role on this. He might have to roam the endless maze of corridors in search for a cart, face other facility users that might deny him access to one, or simply are no where to be found. 

Challenge #2) Transporting and escorting treasure. a) If the cart is found, the hero must set up the cart with as many of the items as possible without the items falling to the ground. Extra trips reduce the XP (experience points) points the hero receives and HP(health points) that is much needed for the final Boss battle. b) if a cart is not available, the hero most do multiple trips taking way from his HP. 

Challenge #3) Getting in the secret passage way (elevator). 

Level 4: Escorting the treasure

For a hero that has conquered this challenge before like my husband, this is just the use of "local knowledge" (D&D reference).  If someone with out this knowledge or a guide faces the endless maze of concrete floor, brightly colored doors with locks, white walls, and lights that monitors your every location to the gatekepper "Dave", it can be disorienting to the poor soul.

Level 5:  The Boss

Once he has reached the final destination, the outcome depends on how established our hero is at his kingdom, and previous ventures to the Man Stash. The encounters come in levels:

EASY:  The storage unit has been sorted, arrange, and he can actually find what he is looking for quite easily. (quick quest)

NORMAL:  The storage has been partially organized, but there's still a chance of a toy avalanche, entrapment in the unit with out an easy way out, and a lot of shifting of crumbling boxes to reach his destination. (few hours)

HARD:  The second he opens the door he will be attached by the "Mess" Monster.  This creature can simply block his way, possibly occupy the entire unit, or just as easily caused a fatal slam on him by simply dropping it's weight on our hero. Shortly after the encounter, the hero finds him self with little choice but to slowly distribute the creature out through the empty hallways near by and braving a long battle. At this point, the "Mess" monster will transform the location into a unknown landscape that would make the crew of the Enterprise wet their panties.  The mess can quickly consume him to the point the great gate keeper can't sense him in the hallways  and will shut down the lights (lights are on motion sensors)  and leave him  fighting this monster in the dark making it more challenging.  ( Several days)

*** Note if you must go to battle the "Mess" Monster, your hero must be well equip before considering this fight.  He requires:

Full health bar - acquired with a good night sleep and a +50 to determination (usually bragging rights to friends or on-line forums).

Food rations - Home made food +30 hp, water +30 hp , soda +15  hp , candy bar +1 hp, BK double whopper +70  hp.

Proper armor - t-shirt +20 to sweat absorbency,  added bonus *** with  cartoon/comic book/ or science  fiction character printed on the shirt +25 to Nerdness, and jeans +15 protection to cuts +20 to dexterity.

Plastic totes with lockable lids - These magical container, must be pre-acquired before starting this quest.  The local supply store called Wally World, Targe, Big Slumps, and few other shops my provide you with this much needed item.  With out this item, there's no way to contain the "Mess" monster and the battle will be a loosing one. A free alternative item is to obtain free boxes for the graveyard stokers at Wally World.  It's not as durable but will get the job done. 

SIDE KICK -- AKA wife, or friend.  While the wife or friend might not be to involve in defeating this monster, they can help the hero keep the lights on and pass content the hero can't access in the hallway. 

Ending :

The hero rises from this dark labyrinth victorious with his price in hand or more established in his kingdom.  Either way, the Man has his theme song playing in his head as he rides into the sun in his transport. 

*** BONUS, If he comes back home empty handed he gets a +20 to happy wife, and unlocks the best ending. LOL

Glamour Shots

It's been 10 days, and so far my husband and I are staying strong with our deal. I've been avoiding going by the mall and reading e-mail coupons for Bath & Bodyworks.  As for my husband, he's been doing so well I started reducing his time from 4/1/2012 to 3/31/2012.  I know... I know.. it's just one day, but that is one day closer to freedom for that man to buy his toys.

In the mean time, we have been documenting his collection by taking turn around images and fancy poses of his toys for of documentation and record keeping of his collection.  You would think that taking pictures of tons of stuff would be an easy job, but it's time consuming.  Each figure is unique in their own way.  They all have different textures, colors, sizes, joins, fabric materials, different levels of detail and props that require individual attention.  Some of these shots take up to 10 to 15 pictures for the basic turn around, plus several images of the character posed in different places in order to do justice to each individual figure.  Some are easy to set up, but other would prove to be a challenge due to it's shape, color contrast against the background, reaction to different lighting, and at times lack mobility from the toy it self ( non possible figure).  Sometimes I wonder if this how fashion photographers feel like when they are working with a difficult model. LOL

Other challenges like flexibility from my behalf as the photographer becomes a challenge.  At times I have to lay down on the ground, hold strange poses, and even try strange angles just to get great shots of these tiny pieces of possible art.  These pictures can be taken anywhere from our apartment porch, the pool area with flower bench, or one of the public parks near by.  I have to be very careful where I lay down.  Don't want to end up with ants in my pants or dog do do on my buns.  In the end, sometimes I get the shot I want and sometimes I don't.  Either way I do my best to keep my guy happy.

While it seem like a lot of work for nothing, this documentation has not been going to waist.  My husband has been writing and filming him self talking about toys on facebook, blooger, and youtube (Google "Raging Nerdgasm" and you will see his postings).  It's been his dream for years to be a professional toy historian, and the man has the knowledge to prove it.  While there's no PHD on the matter, he's been around collectibles toys since he was a baby, and does have a way to share his knowledge on the Internet.  To many wives might think this venture might be very silly, but to me... I'm just happy I was able to help him get started last year.  We have become a dynamic duo on RNG.  He provides the know how on toys and management of the content and forums. I on the other hand, provide the pretty graphics, video, images, and web part of the deal.  It's truly a full time hobby and the audience that fallows his stuff are just as serious about their toys as he is. 

For the serious toy collectors, talking about a TOY on-line is more than just a quick snap shot and post. Keep in mind, these men and women are very passionate about their hobby and sloppy pictures wont cut it.  My husband reputation on the line, and we are aiming for high quality content that gives the on-line toy collector an idea of what is like to have it, touch it, caress it, experience it, maybe smell it, and almost hold a toy we are reviewing in their hands.  If your descriptions, videos, and images are high quality, is almost like "Porn" to some of these collectors.  You laugh at my description, but if you have ever been at any convention that has a limited release toy, and see the hopefulness in peoples eyes as they wait for hours in line with fist full of cash in hopes they can get their favorite toy, you'll understand what I mean. 

All in all, the average Toy Glamour shoot can take us anywhere between 30 min to about 2 hours.  If we are filming the a short for youtube  it takes about 1 to 2 hours, and then about another 10 hours to composite it together, before loading it to youtube. All in all it's a hard days work and its part of living with a toy collector.

The 7TH DAY

Today is officially the 7th day of our little deal and so far I'm very very impresses with my husband.  During the week he has gone to a shop that sells retro stuff and toys, went store hopping with his toy collector friend, and even went through the flea market today with out buying anything.  You should see him at the stores or both.  He looks like the kid from a Christmas Carrol, looking at toys through the frosty glass with puppy eyes and wishing he could buy something.

While I feel really bad, I'm very proud of him.  I know toys make him very happy, but at this moment we really need to focus on purchasing our a new house.  He's repaying back the money he borrow from our house down payment to replace his car that died just before Christmas.  So while this sucks, things aren't bad for him. He really got to splurge like a drunken sailor back in December and now is the dry season.

I'm not going to lie and say I stayed firm with my decision the whole time at the flea market, I almost caved in twice.  The first time he was at one of our usual toy booth stops and I saw him holding a giant box.  At a closer look it was a 1/60 scale of a "Zaku2" model kit of from the Gundam series (Japanese Anime).  The model kit was awesome but the price was very stepped.  We easily walked away from that one.  

Just a few booths down we stooped at another shop.  They had some funny stuff, and few things that my husband recognize from his glory days of working at a toy store.  The shop had some unique merchandize.  It was almost a full complete set of carded 3" "Ahhhh real monsters" toys (still in the packages). The set looked cool, and it was a great price for it, but this time we both had to talked our way out of buying the set.  The way we looked at it is that the toys would be only for sentimental value, not for any real value and right now that's not what we need.  Besides my husband says it best "There's more than one in the world".

   

As for me, I will have to say I did bad.  Part of our agreement is that if he could not purchase any toys for his personal collection until April, I could not buy any soap from Bath & Bodyworks until then either.  While I have not broken my promised so far by buying soap, I did break my promise by buying a copper coin for my own on and off coin collecting hobby.  It was only $2, but it was worth it.  Now I own a 1 troy oz. of pure copper round. It's cool.  

As for my husband he's counting the days.  Final date is 4/1/2011, after that he can do what he wants.  The only loop whole to our agreement is that he can buy something if is going to be use for the toy shows we do that can be profitable at times.  For now he's been very content by re visiting some of his collection he has stored away in storage.  As the moment he's cataloging, taking pictures and writing blogs about his toys in this collection.  He's been thrilled in that aspect.

Once he finished replacing the money from the car, and has been good for sometime, I will consider reducing the date of his curfew.  He is my husband, and I love him very much.  I want him to be happy, not miserable. Being a hard toy Toy Collector is what make him... well him.  I want this to be done soon so he can go back to his happy self. 

THE DEAL

*** Disclaimer.  I have never been a strong writer or a speller.  I have achieved higher education in my life but for what ever reason I still suck at writing. You have been warned and giggle along every time you see something funny.

So it's been a few days since we purchased the giant Godzilla, and my husband can't be prouder of his purchase.  I fact the he gets giddy every time he thinks about it or walks by it.  It's very funny and cute.   However, the Godzilla is a giant reminder of an agreement we made as a result of him purchasing this one piece for his collection and that is: He would be grounded from buying any new toys for four months. But hey what about fact #8 ( 8-  If you are dating or you are married to a toy collector trying to get them to stop is nearly impossible.  Have fun trying.  Even if you think they have stopped, many of them will find a way to do it with out telling you. ). I know... I know... but there are a couple factors involve with this.

My husband is aware that I literally think that he can't leave a retail store, discount retailers, toy store or a flea market with out buying something.  Most of the time these are items that are only $1, on deep clearance (fact #3), a rare variant of a toy that just started hitting the shelves, or a tail end toy (Toys that was part of the line but the distribution was cancelled to major store due to poor sales and ended up at discount retailers such as Ross, Bells, est.).  While this seems silly to the average person, to a toy collector this is part of the hunt for the """ULTIMATE COLLECTION""" and """BRAGGING RIGHTS""" (fact #2).  

While in the past I have failed at asking him to slow down on purchasing toys to save up some money, I believe this time is going to be different for two main reasons: a) we just bought him a new car "cash" and b) we are saving for a new home.  While I'm aware a bigger place is just a bigger area for him to continue to collect ( fact #9), is something that we desperately need. So far he's doing very well.  I haven't seen a single new box show up in the mail or any new bags from the store full with toys.  For a while there we were receiving 2 - 4 big boxes a week of toys that are about 1 1/2 foot to 2 feet tall and  I was seeing piles of shopping bags in the living room or his car back seat.  I'm very proud of him, but then again it has only been 4 days at this point. LOL  

Keeping this in mind you can only imagine our shopping trips, or even just roaming around having a fun day.  I have accepted the fact that no matter what we do together at one point of the day I will end up roaming around the toy isle at Walt-Mart, Target, Bells, Ross, Toy-R-Us,or flea markets with my husband.  While most people would be horribly annoyed by this, to me this is just part of the day for us.  My husband works a high stress job for 8 hours a 5 days a week (and sometimes 7 days straight), and to see him find happiness in these isles instead of a bar, liquor store, drugs, or gambling is truly a blessing. Plus this time he's really motivated in helping us get the best collectible we will ever buy, our future home for our family.  Cross your fingers for us. 

Picture of my husband at the store wearing a Power Rangers Mask.  :D