I have mostly been concentrating on getting rid of stuff, but occasionally I get sucked into the vortex of unwanted goods and emerge with some new things for myself. I drove out to the western suburbs this morning to pick up a cute little 4-cup coffee maker that I really need for Amber's visits. Usually I'm the only one drinking coffee, so I just use a pour-over filter, but that gets awkward when Amber and Olin want coffee too. Anyway, on my way to that pickup I stopped at a couple of yard sales and look what I found!

Another bucket set of wooden trains to add to my collection! It's not the highest quality and a few pieces are missing, but more is better when it comes to chuggy trains. 


All by itself, this is kind of a crappy set. There aren't even enough pieces to make a decent connected track (even if the two missing pieces were here). I found reviews of this set online and one of the complaints was that it was not possible to make the layout shown on the front of the bucket with the pieces provided, which is pretty shoddy packaging. And even though it SAYS that the pieces are double-sided, most of them are not! However, every set, no matter how cheap, has some special qualities. This one gives me 2 pieces that I did not have; that little blue bridge piece in the back (which is not actually in bridge mode in this setup because one of the risers is missing, but is still a nice piece). And.. those two switch pieces in the front. Yes, my other sets came with the usual Y-shaped switches, but these are different, with one flat side and one curved. That lets you make the very cool hanging inner circle designs. So I'm happy with it.  

   Oh, and see that little silver lamp peeking over the top of the mountaintop box? The one that looks like the star of the Pixar opening credits?  I got that for $1 and it is EXACTLY what I needed to illuminate my keyboard when I'm typing in the dark. Also, I got a dorm fridge to replace the one in the attic that keeps blowing the circuit breaker. So... win win win!





And yes, I did finally finish the exhausting Comix Cabinet project. Which was briefly satisfying, although the only obvious outward improvement is that I am no longer tripping over a long, heavy extension cord on my way to the bedroom. It's a little like getting a roof replaced - it needs to be done, but your house doesn't really seem any different afterwards (except maybe when it's actually raining, if the roof was in that bad a shape).