When my wife's mother was no longer able to take care of herself, we put her in a rest home, and sold her house so that the money would provide for her care (nursing homes are super expensive). She unfortunately died not too long afterwards. The house was sold to an investor who was just planning to do some renovations and then flip it. It finally went back on the market this week, and my wife and I were able to take a tour of the place to see what work they'd done to it.

My wife is still very attached to the place. Besides our condo, it's the only place she's ever lived. The house is just up the street, and my wife drives by it regularly so she can report things like, "They replaced the front door!" or "I can't believe they painted the entire exterior WHITE!" I asked her, why don't we just buy it? So, long story short, we're moving into the house next month.

I haven't moved in 17 years. As a kid, I moved around, like, every year or two. I got to the point where I didn't even bother to unpack my stuff, because why bother? So, I really don't like moving. At all. But, this house is the last place I'm ever going to live. It will be my final destination. I'm really okay with this.
I've always wanted to live in a real, actual house. I've lived in apartments and townhouses and condominiums and it's always so cramped, especially when I've got kids and cats.

So, I guess that means I'm packing up. I mean, easily 90% of my collection is already in boxes, so that part's not a problem, but the remaining ten percent is still a few hundred toys and I need to find a way to box them up without damaging them. That includes all the unique one-of-a-kind stuff that I've built and hand-painted.

But, the good news is that it's a six-bedroom house so there's plenty of space. I will finally, finally have room to display my collection (or at least a substantially greater percentage of it!) the way it's always been meant to be displayed. I'm really looking forward to this. I'm probably going to build a little mini-museum. (Maybe I could charge admission.)

So if I'm not super active here for the next month or two, I'm probably busy packing up and/or unpacking and setting up. But I just remembered that the Comics Reading Club review date was yesterday, so I'm gonna post that, at least.

Zob (very excited, but dreading all the packing up)

On Wednesday, February 16, 2022 at 7:03:11 PM UTC-8, Zobovor wrote:

> I haven't moved in 17 years. As a kid, I moved around, like, every year or two. I got to the point where I didn't even bother to unpack my stuff, because why bother?

Oh god I identify with this so much. I move a lot too and we're always renting so I can never put up shelving or make major modifications as I would like to. And every move something goes missing. I'm not accusing the movers but there's always one or two things that curiously disappear. Last move it was my Targetmaster Hot Rod box and a bubble from Kup's packaging. Before that it was a composite cable for my N64 and a Rob Thomas CD. One day I might open a moving box in the garage and finally find these things.

> So, I really don't like moving. At all. But, this house is the last place I'm ever going to live. It will be my final destination. I'm really okay with this.
> I've always wanted to live in a real, actual house.

Congratulations and good luck with everything. This is really great to hear.. I hope you do find happiness in your forever home.

> But, the good news is that it's a six-bedroom house so there's plenty of space. I will finally, finally have room to display my collection (or at least a substantially greater percentage of it!) the way it's always been meant to be displayed. I'm really looking forward to this. I'm probably going to build a little mini-museum. (Maybe I could charge admission.)

I'd buy that for a dollar! Up here in Washington a couple people have been nice enough to invite me to their homes and let me see their collections. It's so inspiring and overwhelming to see large G1 collections displayed almost professionally. But its also bittersweet. I wonder if that's the kind of mini-museum I would have had if I hadn't chosen the moving around life. Seeing that these people exist helps me deal with my own feelings of having fallen short in collecting goals due to lack of focus and other priorities. It's just nice to know that somebody made it. It helps me cope with having to eventually downsize or let things go myself. I can rest easy knowing what I have is not so unique and there are better collectors/archivists of toy history making sure these artifacts get preserved into the future.

> So if I'm not super active here for the next month or two, I'm probably busy packing up and/or unpacking and setting up. But I just remembered that the Comics Reading Club review date was yesterday, so I'm gonna post that, at least.

Packing and unpacking are the situations that make me want to throw away everything I own. Hang in there and if you hire movers, pack & move all the good stuff yourself!

On Saturday, February 19, 2022 at 2:42:30 PM UTC-7, evil.king.m...@gmail.com wrote:

> Congratulations and good luck with everything. This is really great to hear. I hope you do find happiness in your forever home.

I think it's gonna be ideal for everybody in the family. We've all been going stir crazy in this tiny condo since 2020, with the kids being out of school at least as often as not. It's wall-to-wall furniture, and things tucked into every nook and cranny.

> Up here in Washington a couple people have been nice enough to invite me to their homes and let me see their collections. It's so inspiring and overwhelming to see large G1 collections displayed almost professionally.

That's honestly the goal. My wife is super supportive of this idea and she even wants to replace shelving so that it doesn't look piecemeal like it does now. I've got a short brown bookshelf, a tall black one, a skinny white one, etc. because I just bought whatever they had when I needed a new one.. We're looking at the Detolf shelves from IKEA, which seem to be really popular with collectors.

> Packing and unpacking are the situations that make me want to throw away everything I own. Hang in there and if you hire movers, pack & move all the good stuff yourself!

Oh, I don't trust movers to pack up any of my collectibles. I'll definitely be boxing up and transporting those myself. What's great is that it's literally a 30-second drive, so I can just fill up Clunker/Guzzler with boxes until the van is full, drive her over to the house, and unload it myself. Rinse and repeat.

The one thing I'm most worried about is that the entertainment center I was fretting about a couple of years ago may not even fit in the new place. There's no back door like the condo has, so I'll have to find a way to get it down the stairs somehow. And it's very, very heavy. But, big problems are just made up of many small problems, so I'm sure we'll figure something out.

Zob (boxed up all my PVC figures and Masterpiece toys today)

Zobovor <zmfts@aol.com> wrote:
> On Saturday, February 19, 2022 at 2:42:30 PM UTC-7, evil.king.m...@gmail.com wrote:
>

>> Packing and unpacking are the situations that make me want to throw away
>> everything I own. Hang in there and if you hire movers, pack & move all
>> the good stuff yourself!
>
> Oh, I don't trust movers to pack up any of my collectibles. I'll
> definitely be boxing up and transporting those myself. What's great is
> that it's literally a 30-second drive, so I can just fill up
> Clunker/Guzzler with boxes until the van is full, drive her over to the
> house, and unload it myself. Rinse and repeat.

Every time I’ve moved I’ve taken care of the artwork myself. Mover dude
said they could do it, but I explained that if he dropped it I would be
angry, while if I dropped it I would be sad, and that just seemed better.

Congratulations on the move, Zob! Thinking of you guys.

Despite the effort involved, I hope that it continues to go well. :)

JB

On Saturday, February 19, 2022 at 10:09:27 PM UTC-8, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:
> Zobovor <zm...@aol.com> wrote:
> > On Saturday, February 19, 2022 at 2:42:30 PM UTC-7, evil.king.m...@gmail.com wrote:
> >
>
> >> Packing and unpacking are the situations that make me want to throw away
> >> everything I own. Hang in there and if you hire movers, pack & move all
> >> the good stuff yourself!
> >
> > Oh, I don't trust movers to pack up any of my collectibles. I'll
> > definitely be boxing up and transporting those myself. What's great is
> > that it's literally a 30-second drive, so I can just fill up
> > Clunker/Guzzler with boxes until the van is full, drive her over to the
> > house, and unload it myself. Rinse and repeat.
> Every time I’ve moved I’ve taken care of the artwork myself. Mover dude
> said they could do it, but I explained that if he dropped it I would be
> angry, while if I dropped it I would be sad, and that just seemed better.

Zobovor <zmfts@aol.com> wrote:
> When my wife's mother was no longer able to take care of herself, we put
> her in a rest home, and sold her house so that the money would provide
> for her care (nursing homes are super expensive). She unfortunately died
> not too long afterwards. The house was sold to an investor who was just
> planning to do some renovations and then flip it. It finally went back
> on the market this week, and my wife and I were able to take a tour of
> the place to see what work they'd done to it.
>
> My wife is still very attached to the place. Besides our condo, it's the
> only place she's ever lived. The house is just up the street, and my
> wife drives by it regularly so she can report things like, "They replaced
> the front door!" or "I can't believe they painted the entire exterior
> WHITE!" I asked her, why don't we just buy it? So, long story short,
> we're moving into the house next month.
>
> I haven't moved in 17 years. As a kid, I moved around, like, every year
> or two. I got to the point where I didn't even bother to unpack my
> stuff, because why bother? So, I really don't like moving. At all.
> But, this house is the last place I'm ever going to live. It will be my
> final destination. I'm really okay with this.
> I've always wanted to live in a real, actual house. I've lived in
> apartments and townhouses and condominiums and it's always so cramped,
> especially when I've got kids and cats.
>
> So, I guess that means I'm packing up. I mean, easily 90% of my
> collection is already in boxes, so that part's not a problem, but the
> remaining ten percent is still a few hundred toys and I need to find a
> way to box them up without damaging them. That includes all the unique
> one-of-a-kind stuff that I've built and hand-painted.
>
> But, the good news is that it's a six-bedroom house so there's plenty of
> space. I will finally, finally have room to display my collection (or at
> least a substantially greater percentage of it!) the way it's always been
> meant to be displayed. I'm really looking forward to this. I'm probably
> going to build a little mini-museum. (Maybe I could charge admission.)
>
> So if I'm not super active here for the next month or two, I'm probably
> busy packing up and/or unpacking and setting up. But I just remembered
> that the Comics Reading Club review date was yesterday, so I'm gonna post that, at least.
>
>
> Zob (very excited, but dreading all the packing up)
>

Congrats man! I’ve been in my current house for over 15 years. Six
bedrooms is a lot of house! Be prepared for your toy budget to take a
MAJOR hit. always things to update and FIX. Plus property tax, insurance,
and oh - did I mention maintenance and repairs? And upgrades?! I wouldn’t
be surprised if this was your last toy post! God bless the American
“Dream”. But hey, it beats the alternative.

-Banzaitron (there’s no place like home)

On Monday, February 21, 2022 at 10:00:15 PM UTC-7, Anonymous wrote:

> Congrats man! I’ve been in my current house for over 15 years. Six
> bedrooms is a lot of house! Be prepared for your toy budget to take a
> MAJOR hit. always things to update and FIX.

So, here's the thing. The people who flipped it did a lot of work to the place. We actually just had an inspector check it yesterday, and almost all the things he noticed were very minor things that I can do easily. Stuff like a couple of outlets needing to be replaced, a bedroom door that doesn't quite latch because the strike plate needs to be adjusted. Simple fixes.

Obviously, yeah, there will be maintenance and such (I just realized the other day I don't even own a lawnmower!) but the trade-off is worth it. I'm already doing some preliminary sketches of the new toy room (the term "man cave" seems barbaric, but I'm not sure what else to call it) and I think I want to alternate shelves with posters, just so it's not wall-to-wall bookshelves. Break it up a bit visually. Give the eyes a rest. There are even some great 3D-printed media logos available on eBay, so I could have, like, a big plastic Transformers logo above my Transformers shelf; a nice, colorful TMNT logo above my Turtles shelf; etc.

The wife wants it to look classy. She doesn't want it looking cluttered. Her mom used the basement for junk storage, so I think she's worried about that. Just plastic totes everywhere and stacks of fabric piled on top of unused furniture. I'm envisioning something very different. No totes or cardboard boxes in sight.

Zob (and Unicron hanging from the ceiling in planet mode, quite possibly)

Zobovor <zmfts@aol.com> wrote:
> On Monday, February 21, 2022 at 10:00:15 PM UTC-7, Anonymous wrote:
>
>> Congrats man! I’ve been in my current house for over 15 years. Six
>> bedrooms is a lot of house! Be prepared for your toy budget to take a
>> MAJOR hit. always things to update and FIX.
>
> So, here's the thing. The people who flipped it did a lot of work to the
> place. We actually just had an inspector check it yesterday, and almost
> all the things he noticed were very minor things that I can do easily.
> Stuff like a couple of outlets needing to be replaced, a bedroom door
> that doesn't quite latch because the strike plate needs to be adjusted. Simple fixes.
>
> Obviously, yeah, there will be maintenance and such (I just realized the
> other day I don't even own a lawnmower!) but the trade-off is worth it.
> I'm already doing some preliminary sketches of the new toy room (the term
> "man cave" seems barbaric, but I'm not sure what else to call it) and I
> think I want to alternate shelves with posters, just so it's not
> wall-to-wall bookshelves. Break it up a bit visually. Give the eyes a
> rest. There are even some great 3D-printed media logos available on
> eBay, so I could have, like, a big plastic Transformers logo above my
> Transformers shelf; a nice, colorful TMNT logo above my Turtles shelf; etc.
>
> The wife wants it to look classy. She doesn't want it looking cluttered.
> Her mom used the basement for junk storage, so I think she's worried
> about that. Just plastic totes everywhere and stacks of fabric piled on
> top of unused furniture. I'm envisioning something very different. No
> totes or cardboard boxes in sight.
>
>
> Zob (and Unicron hanging from the ceiling in planet mode, quite possibly)
>

With 6 bedrooms, one can surely be a big, temperature controlled closet for
lots of loved transformers, and whatever your wife has, classy or not.

90% of house classy. 10% well organized storage.

On Tuesday, February 22, 2022 at 10:13:19 PM UTC-6, Zobovor wrote:
> On Monday, February 21, 2022 at 10:00:15 PM UTC-7, Anonymous wrote:
>
> > Congrats man! I’ve been in my current house for over 15 years. Six
> > bedrooms is a lot of house! Be prepared for your toy budget to take a
> > MAJOR hit. always things to update and FIX.
> So, here's the thing. The people who flipped it did a lot of work to the place. We actually just had an inspector check it yesterday, and almost all the things he noticed were very minor things that I can do easily. Stuff like a couple of outlets needing to be replaced, a bedroom door that doesn't quite latch because the strike plate needs to be adjusted. Simple fixes.
>
> Obviously, yeah, there will be maintenance and such (I just realized the other day I don't even own a lawnmower!) but the trade-off is worth it. I'm already doing some preliminary sketches of the new toy room (the term "man cave" seems barbaric, but I'm not sure what else to call it) and I think I want to alternate shelves with posters, just so it's not wall-to-wall bookshelves. Break it up a bit visually. Give the eyes a rest. There are even some great 3D-printed media logos available on eBay, so I could have, like, a big plastic Transformers logo above my Transformers shelf; a nice, colorful TMNT logo above my Turtles shelf; etc.
>
> The wife wants it to look classy. She doesn't want it looking cluttered. Her mom used the basement for junk storage, so I think she's worried about that. Just plastic totes everywhere and stacks of fabric piled on top of unused furniture. I'm envisioning something very different. No totes or cardboard boxes in sight.
>
>
> Zob (and Unicron hanging from the ceiling in planet mode, quite possibly)
You can get RGB smart LED strips, and have each shelf lit separately, with a wide array of color options. I need some glass doors on my shelves to keep the cats out.

Could even get some disco lights to point at Unicron.

On Wednesday, February 16, 2022 at 8:03:11 PM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:

<snip>

So, today's the big day. If I disappear off the face of the Internet for a bit, you guys will know why. Wish me luck!

Zob (seriously went through an entire eight-pack of packing tape, and then some)

Thinking of you, Zob - and, sending you my best. Keep us posted!

JB

On Thursday, March 31, 2022 at 4:36:24 AM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:
> On Wednesday, February 16, 2022 at 8:03:11 PM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
> So, today's the big day. If I disappear off the face of the Internet for a bit, you guys will know why. Wish me luck!
>
>
> Zob (seriously went through an entire eight-pack of packing tape, and then some)