Lost Treasures In The Box Of Random Stuff

This post's title is the working title of my next preteen geared chapter book about a misunderstood 11 year-old girl named Kendra Stuff who is left with her grandfather for the holidays when her widowed mother is needed to provide disaster assistance in a hurricane ravaged coastal town. Kendra had never liked visiting her Grandpa Stuff - he was odd, like the number 11. His clothing exhibited a certain disdain for order and fashion, and he constantly wanted to talk. Talk, talk, talk. He wasn't interested in conversation either; he wanted to talk and he wanted her to be the audience for his tall tales. Kendra figured that Grandpa Stuff's stories must be completely made up because their flamboyant, nonsensical plots seemed like her grandfather's name, Random. But that all changed one afternoon when she was sent to dust the attic, opened a box, and found herself propelled into the tallest tale she had ever known.

OK, I made all that up. By now, you've either stopped reading, skipped to the pictures and captions to try to figure out what they have to do with that story, or you are extremely disappointed that you'll never know what happens to Kendra Stuff.

Actually, the title of this post is in reference to the box I just went though which had been sitting in Gage's closet for the past 3 years, before it was even his closet. The lid was busted, so I decided it was a good time to see what was in there and get rid of it.

A lot of junk is getting thrown out, like this old video camera that doesn't work. I was saving this to use for a prop in a little movie. Not that I had any ideas that would require it, but it would be perfect for anything that required dropping or destroying a camera. Time for it to go (unless anyone has some good ideas for a short video that could use a broken camera).


There were a few lost treasures though.

A poster I made some years ago commemorating the various milestones in my penny saving - the 100, 200, and 300 dollar pennies. If you didn't know I saved pennies for years and years (and still do), then that probably seems really odd (like the number 37) - I don't go around asking everyone for their pennies like I did in high school. If you click on the picture, you might be able to see the text at the bottom explaining how it all started.

Some penny memorabilia.

• A cut out of me with a beard on a jar lid that I painted copper. I once saved pennies in the jar this lid went to.
  
• Two penny erasers.
• One of the first 10 million pennies minted in the year 2000 that Cheerios gave out in their cereal boxes for a while. You know that has to be worth at least a cent.
  
• A penny key chain. My favorite part of this was the word "Copy" on the back to make sure you didn't try to spend it or to make sure a cashier didn't accept it as legal tender

I was the employee of the month at Potpourri (Now the PennySaverUSA. I wish they had that name when I worked for them). This picture was printed in their weekly mailer and went all over the San Francisco Bay Area. They asked me to bring in a picture, I brought in several, and the company president liked this one (me too).

In case anyone ever needs one, I am an Electronic Technician. I earned this certificate after taking a class in high school. It was one of the easiest classes I've ever taken and I learned way less than I wanted to. If anyone tries to do electrical work for you and shows you a certificate like this, try not to spray them in the face with saliva when you burst into laughter and walk them out of your house.

Here are some works by Ben Donaldson.

• A "Missing" poster of me.
• A C.A.G.H. bumper sticker.
• A wedding announcement that he made up saying he was engaged to Holly Watkins (Tylerr's sister) .
  

A pic of Sam Hale and I at someone else's prom. It was a blind date for all four of us. Sam and I met up with the girls at one of their houses with a truck full of different suites, including regular old tuxes, but they picked out the polyester masterpieces you see above. Sam and I were complimented on our snazzy dressing several times - and rightly so. I've always thought Sam and I had good taste for stylin' polyester outfits. And, before anyone asks - I have no idea why I seem to be imitating Napoleon (not Dynamite) and yes, those are napkins on our heads.

And, lastly, the boxes for our wedding rings. We picked them out at the same time. Unfortunately, Aimee's ring is in Portland, OR right now while she's visiting her brother Andy. I'm at home alone until she and Gage get back Wednesday. Ahhhhhhhhhh!

New C.A.G.H. Sidebar

It's about time that we found some way to get some of these creative works online for the world to enjoy (or at least any one who actually reads our blog and cares). This new C.A.G.H. sidebar gadget provides easy access to those old stories Ben wrote in high school, the videos Glen shot and edited in high school, audio recordings of Aimee's family doing karaoke when they were younger as well as "The Zoo" performed by Glen, the original cover art for "The Movie", and lots more.

The C.A.G.H. sidebar also has some great features, including:
- Full screen video if you click on the full screen icon in the video player.
- Audio can be played right in the browser, but is also available for download as mp3s.
- Click on images and large versions will open in a new window.
- Sort literature by title or author.
- Literature is downloadable as pdf files.

There are probably many more things that ought to be included, but I either haven't had time to get them online or I don't have a copy. If you know of something that should be included, let me know, commenting on this post or emailing me both are acceptable - toilet papering my house, throwing pebbles at my window, and/or serenading me with a bad mariachi group are not acceptable.

If you have absolutely no idea what Citizens Against Globe Hats is, you'll definitely need to check out the sidebar and read "The C.A.G.H. Story" by Ben.