Theme Thursday
This week's Theme Thursday theme is "Collections." Perfect for a cat lady who's also a Connoisseur of Crap. I've collected a lot of things over the years and there's plenty I could show you from my own collections. Some items are useful, while there are many more which serve no practical purpose. I have fairly eclectic tastes, so my collections are more of a mishmash of crap. Hard to categorize them as "real" collections. But not all of the crap in the attic is mine.
Today is Vlad's birthday and in honor of the occasion, I thought I'd share one of his collections for Theme Thursday. (Warning: This is a bit divergent from my usual posts... if you're looking for my usual cynical sense of humor, you'll have to click on the links.) For about the first 8 years of his life, Vlad talked about nothing but trains. There were times when I thought his obsession would be the death of me and put me in danger of going to Mommy Jail. We had trains in the living room, trains in the bedroom, trains in the attic and trains in the garage.
There were Lionel trains from his grandfather.
HO trains
Playmobil trains
Lego trains
Do you have any idea how many pieces are in those suckers?
Brio trains
Thomas the Tank Engine and all his friends.
You name it, we had it. Probably a quarter of our attic is now filled with the trains. (See... not all that crap is mine! I feel vindicated!) When I go up to the attic to look for stuff, I always see a train in some corner. It brings back happy memories and sometime induces a state of melancholy. The Lionels still come out occasionally around Christmas time.
My little boy has grown up and his interests shifted from trains to locks, to flags, to cars, to guns (my least favorite of his obsessions), to motorcycles, and so on. But to me the trains still define him. No matter how big he gets (and he's pretty big at 22 and 6'6" tall) I'll always think of him in his little engineer outfit and Brio cap, playing on the livingroom floor with his trains. *big sigh*
Guess I'd better stop writing and go hit Beers of the World to buy him some unusual brews for his new collection. And this time, it's a collection we can both enjoy!
Happy Birthday, Vlad!
38 comments:
Do you know you said "crap" at least 4 times? That's a lot of crap!
:)
I collect candy. Okay, not collect b/c it's never around long enough to be collected
Dangit. You made me all mushy. I have two sons. My oldest is 17 and my young one is four. I love them and hope that I get to spoil some grandchildren not in the near future but some day.
Trains to beer seems like a reasonable evolution.
Trains! Makes me recall a train I got for Christmas one year - and my daddy was having so much fun with it I didn't think I would ever get a chance to play with it myself. Nice memory. Thanks for poking at it for me.
Happy Birthday Vlad. Enjoy your day and your beer.
NGIP: Can you tell it's one of my favorite words? And it sounds slightly more refined than shit. WTF. I wouldn't want to say shit in front of my kid on his birthday or anything. It's important to always set a good example for your kids... at least in public. Hee Hee!
Lyn: Sorry I made you all mushy... If Vlad saw this, he's be totally humiliated.
bernthis: Collections are good... you should never throw anything away. We even have petrified candy at our house, if you can imagine such a thing.
Laoch: Yeah, and now we can enjoy the gun and beer collections at the same time... or not.
AngelMay: Vlad's dad wasn't allowed to play with his father's Lionels. Now that's just wrong! He didn't get to play with them until Vlad got them.
Peach Tart: We'll enjoy the beer together! :-)
CLL, that reminds me I should get that train museum gallery back up! Fun post (and yes, Istill have old snaps of my first train set...somewhere, heh, heh )...
Vlad is the perfect name for someone who is 6'6". Just thought I'd throw that in there.
I collect dust.
According to my wife.
Subby:
Miss Yvonne: The names have been changed to protect the innocent... although he wishes Vlad were his real name. Maybe I should change his name as a birthday present... after we drink all the beer.
moooooog: I collect dust, too. And fur balls from Hickory the Wonder Dog. They're my finest collections.
My grandson, who is all of 3, LOVES all trains, but especially Thomas and his friends.
Wonderful post (and that's no crap)
Happy TT
Great Post!!~Holly
mmmmmm beer! I'll take that!
Happy Birthday Vla... There's a Beers of the World Store???!!!
Happy B-day Vlad!
Ahh, trains... never rode on a real one and my brother wouldn't let me play with his Lionels when young. At least my father let me drink beer - so that's something...
Dreamhaven: Hopefully Vlad will someday have kids who can play with the trains. Happy TT back at ya!
Holly: Thanks!
BS & BC: Cheers! I hope everyone will raise a glass in honor of Vlad today!
Dufus: Indeed there is... right here in Rochester. I added a link to show some of the brews they carry. I think I'll just go down the list and keep adding to my shopping cart until I run out of money. (Sadly, they don't have their own web site, so I couldn't link to them directly.)
Michelle: I'll give Vlad your regards. You may be train deprived, but at least your dad shared the good stuff.
Happy birthday indeed! I remember ALL those old collectables, but right now ... erm, pass me one of those brewskies and some crackers, please!
The Old Silly
CCL...that was just fun! Trains are timeless. NEVER too old to play with trains!!
My husband would be QUITE intrigued at the idea of collecting brews of the world...everywhere we go he has to try the local brew or loves the recommendation of an import!!
Happy TT!
By all means, save those trains. I had a train set when I was a kid, and really wished I'd kept it. Great take on the theme! Happy TT!
boys and their (expensive) toys! The only thing i like to collect anymore are memories... great post, great collections!
I hear ya on this! My son was a big Disney fan as a kid, and now all he is about is sports. But, if I see Mickey, I think of him. :)
Happy Birthday, Vlad, Cheers, Cat Lady...No beer for me but I did enjoy your trains.
I see my favorite beer right up front where everybody can see it in that picture - Newcastle Brown Ale. Ahhhhhh!
Trains are definitely cool. I once had a friend who did the HO scale thing, and he painted all his engines and cars to match New York, New Haven, and Hartford colors and logos. And in most of the houses of my friends when I was a kid (ours included), a train set ran around the Christmas tree. It made Christmas morning all the more exciting to have a Lionel train running around the tree hooting its horn!
Great post.
My boys love trains! We have all the ones you have listed here!
I loved trains! I still love trains. I actually like getting stuck at a railroad crossing so that I can watch them go by!
I have a ton of train crap too!! Brio. I wonder if we can sell it on ebay for some $$ for Christmas. I had pondered saving it for grandkids. But... really??? Who knows if or when grandkids will arrive. I hate keeping stuff laying around.
Happy Birthday, Vlad!
Trains are awesome...we had quite a few of them around our place when the boys were younger.
Hey,our cat is named Vlad! Hope he doesn't get to be 6'6".
I gave my friends son his first Brio train. It started a years-long buying frenzy for which my friend has probably still not forgiven me.
Vlad is an awesome name! I think my son had the same fetish. I have plastic bins full of lego and aeropolanes and Mighty Max's Mega Mountain that he just wouldn't throw out. . . these days it's Coca Cola bottles, T shirts, drum kits and a few other oddities. Happy birthday .. .Go Librans!
Happy birthday Vlad.
Old Silly: We'll toast you with the crackers & brewskies!
Jill: I think I may have to do a separate post on Beers of the World! Thanks for stopping by!
Skip: We have enough Lionels in their original boxes to finance Vlad's college! But we like them too much!
Tom: The memory collection is definitely the best!
Wings: When we went to Disney, all Vlad wanted to do was ride the monorail!
e: How about joining us in a Dr. Pepper? Vlad's as crazy for the Dr. as I am!
Roy: Yep, Lionels around the holiday tree are the best!
Betsy: Wow! You have as many as we do? And I didn't even mention the N gauge or G gauge. Too much!
Otin: Didn't anybody give you a train for your birthday on Wednesday? We spent several of Vlad's birthdays staying at the Caboose Motel. Fun times!
Hit 40: My ex even started making Brio track at one point... talk about being a little obsessed...
Phillipia: Boys & trains! What's not to like? Vlad appreciated the birthday greetings!
Vlad: I'm not responsible if your Vlad ever gets to 6'6"... unless of course he gets into the Guinness Book of Records and there's any money involved. Brios are still my favorite!
Baino: Vlad is his alter ego... he has this thing about Russian/Soviet history. We have lots of other boy toys crammed into our house, too!
frigginloon: Vlad sez "Thanks!"
Subby: ACK! I just noticed my response to your comment was missing! How mysterious! I must have just been using mental telepathy.... did you get the message? Are you wearing your little suit in the picture of you with your train set?
Beers of the World! I wish I was Vlad. And aren't the kids' old toys wonderful--and a little bit sad? Maybe you'll have grandchildren to share them with.....
Mike: Beers of the World is an awesome place! Watch for my "Sunday in My City" post this week for a virtual tour! And grandchildren? *sigh* I can always hope! I'd probably make a great grandma.
Happy Birthday Vlad. At my house you celebrate 2 weeks before and two weeks after your birthday...you get a whole month.
Happy birthday, Vlad!
I've got closetsful of my offspring's crap. Maybe someday those Yugi-Oh cards will be worth SOMETHING?
MA Not so Fat Woman: I'm comin' to your house for my birthday... save lots of candles!
Megan: I'll pass along your good wishes to Vlad! Personally, I'm banking on the Magic cards to finance my retirement. (I think the Lionel's might be worth enough to pay for grad school for Vlad.)
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