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located mostly in the Midwest--The Exchange--that buys, sells and trades records, CDs, DVDs, videogames and merchandise related to any of the above. For years, they'd be my first stop if I actually wanted to own an older DVD or CD instead of getting it from the library, and I would occasionally take items up there for sale when I was done with them. They didn't pay a ton but they paid a heck of a lot more than Half Price Books does (I'm still salty about turning over two bags of Star Trek tie-in novels years ago and getting only a couple dollars from HPB for all of them combined).

This morning before I met my good church friend for lunch, I took 8 movies, 2 complete seasons of two different semi-popular TV shows, a concert DVD for a not-well-known band (Il Volo) and a workout DVD up for trade. I wasn't expecting to get much for the lot--maybe $5?--but I wasn't expecting the guy to tell me, regretfully, that he wasn't going to take ANY of it. I'd hoped to at least get enough change to tip my waitress today (don't worry...I already had enough to tip the waitress).

The rest of the day (and frankly some of the morning as well) was a series of small frustrations but there was one nice thing that happened. That "one" nice thing was my entire stop at JoAnn Fabrics. First, they had paper on a really good sale: 10 individual sheets for $3. I needed some new colors for my paper beads, so that worked out well. I picked up several other things on sale as well. Next, I discovered JF carries Lego sets. I've never had an interest in Legos but a woman our church is connected with does an outreach program with inner city youth and she uses Legos both in a weeklong day camp and as prizes at the end of the camp. I'd planned to pick up a couple small sets that she requested at Walmart later today but JF saved me the extra trip. Then I met the cutest pug in the clearance aisle. His name is Gimli; the daughter named him and the father, who was in the store alone with Gimli, confessed he didn't know where the name came from (Lord of the Rings). Not only was Gimli gorgeous, he was super chill and super friendly. After he gave me a cursory sniff, he allowed me to pet him and as we struck up a conversation, instead of being impatient and ready to go, Gimli just sprawled out of the floor and blissed out. I'd noticed on the way in a sign on the door saying JF is "pet-friendly"; I'm so glad they are because Gimli made my day! Or at least he would have if not for what happened at the register...bff has been looking for a large rooster sticker. Her kitchen theme is roosters, and she found this video on how to make a storage container for rolls of aluminum foil, wax paper, plastic wrap, etc. out of a family size cereal box. She wants to make one and add a rooster sticker to the front but even in my (semi) rural town, rooster stickers are impossible to find. I know Amazon carries them but neither bff nor I shop a lot on Amazon. Anyways, in the clearance aisle, I found a 2024 calendar...every month has a different, brightly colored rooster the exact size bff is looking for. Not a sticker but eh, she can cut out the rooster and glue it to the box. There was no price on the calendar...when I took it to the check out counter, I pointed this out to the lovely, lovely cashier. She turned the calendar around every which way, commenting that it had been part of last year's Christmas line of merch and shouldn't still be on the floor...and then she said "eh, just take it". Score!