Why I Oughta...

This was the first Grandma Moses piece we've come across - and Nat reminded me that she gets covered on the Roadshow from time-to-time, so we had to pick this up and put it with the rest of our Christmas stuff.

With the demise of Elmhurst's "My Favorite Toy Store" plenty of folks around town were pretty bummed both because everyone loved the store and tried to support it as a local merchant but also because it was leaving a gaping hole right in York Street. The good news is that it appears that we won't have that hole in our City Centre as there are now signs in the empty storefront for a place called Main Street Candy and Toys.     You can find them over her on Facebook .    They posted a 'we're expanding' note you can see here. Post by Main Street Candy and Toys . We're excited to see them come to town and hope they open up quick.  We'll be one of the first in line to support them!

We had a pretty incredible sunset earlier this year up in Michigan. Shot from Rocky Gap Park - which is technically - in Benton Harbor.  We hit up the park on the way to St. Joseph, so it is St. Joe's to us!

This stuff was for sale at Menards in the Christmas clearance sale.  It is little green flakes that look like grass that you can use to 'scene' your Christmas Village or Train set up. But...'known to cause cancer'?  I love me a good deal, but...even though it is 75% off....I think I'll pass.

She's growing up so fast.  And...man-o-man..does she have some personality.  Plenty of it.

Unfortunately, the dealer only had this guy.  Didn't have the other one ( see the set here ).  But, that is why the set is interesting to me.  Now I have a hunt. Will I ever come across the other one?  I'm going to try to refrain from pickup up the full set if I see it.  I'd like to try to just find the "Christmas" partner to this guy. The bottom is stamped the right way (below), so this one will find a nice home alongside his brethren.

This piece is marked Taiwan (see the mark below), so it normally isn't something that I would pick up.  I've passed a bunch of Taiwan-made Santas. But, this one had that Relpo sticker on the bottom.  And...it says "Chicago, ILL".  So, I couldn't pass it up!