Please HELP with TORNADO Disaster Relief Efforts

I knew that I couldn't remember a more horrible tornado outbreak in Alabama, but it has now been determined that the tornadoes of April 27, 2011 were the worst outbreak in the USA since 1925! We are very thankful that the death toll number has been going down, not up, as they are better able to document individual deaths.

But there are so many who have lost everything they had. Whole towns are just gone, wiped off the face of the earth, to the point that you can see the swath of the tornado paths from satellite images! The biggest one that went through Alabama was well over a mile wide and stayed on the ground for over 80 miles, with winds in excess of 200 miles per hour.

Since we're Baptist, here's the link to donate to help the tornado survivors through the Alabama Baptist State Mission Board. The Salvation Army, the Red Cross, and United Way would be good places to take local donations of goods or send money, as there will be a need for LOTS of money.

You can also MAIL a box of toys or baby clothes in good clean condition.

Our Free Plush Memories Lost Toy Search Service is available to any family member or friend of a tornado-stricken family. We will give Top Priority to searches for the special stuffed animal, doll, or blankie that a child has lost.

ALL orders shipped to Alabama from our Dirty Butter Plush Animal Shoppe will receive a 50% Discount through June 30th, in the hopes that this will help out of state family members to send toys to loved ones struck by the tornado. And anyone who has a lovie shipped to Alabama who did not suffer directly from the damage will be encouraged to donate the other half to disaster relief.

PLEASE find a way that YOU can HELP!

Finding the GOOD STUFF at Estate Sales is Getting Harder

We've been going to yard sales and Estate Sales almost every Friday for several years now as part of our Date Day. And we always have a good time, just because we are together. Oh, we're together at home, too. But we are doing our own thing - me on the computer and hubby reading a newspaper or using his computer. Not exactly activities that lead to paying much attention to each other. That's what makes Fridays so special for us, as we carry on more conversation in that one day than we probably do all the rest of the days of the week combined. Maybe I'm exaggerating, but it sure feels that way sometimes.

But of late the sales have been much less unique. It seems like all the paper items that fascinate us so much - all the real junk - has been thrown out before we get there. Hubby has said more than once that the big bags of garbage at the curb are where most of the items we would be interested in probably are.

There's been much less to rummage around through for most of this year. We still have a good time, but we're not finding as many treasures as we used to. That has led us to spending more and more time looking for the plush animals and soft dolls for our Dirty Butter Plush Animal Shoppe. At least we can still enjoy the hunt for those hard to find baby toys that people sell, not realizing how valuable they will be to a family who are desperate to replace some lost lovie.

We have kept a few of the treasured memories from our vintage finds. We have one 1800's autograph book of the lady's friends that is very interesting reading. They didn't just sign a name, but wrote short poems and notes to each other. And there's a lock of hair sewn into it. I used to take it to school and show it to my students and read a few of the entries to them.

I recently ran across a website where they sell an amazing number of old diaries, along with some handwritten letters from some famous people, and also some extremely old letters from everyday folks. If you are as fascinated by these windows into a time gone by you might enjoy looking at Tuscon Tiques Collectibles. I certainly enjoyed seeing all the interesting letters and diaries.

I can't imagine how they could have accumulated so many different hand written ephemera, but they have renewed my interest in this type of collecting and made me hope that we will again run across that perfect Estate Sale, where all the "good stuff" was not thrown away before they started the sale.

Do You Believe There's Only ONE Person for Each of Us??

My wonderful hubby and I have been head over heels in love with each other since 1960. I would hate to think that there is only one perfect mate for each of us, what with all the divorced people, widowed and such, out there searching, but, in my case, I think I found him!!

And why, do you ask (you ARE asking, aren't you?) did I come up with that to blog about today? One of my blogs is a lost toy search service, as part of our Plush Animal Shoppe. We get lots of stories from parents looking for a toy that their child is just heart sick without. Sometimes we can help them, and sometimes we can't.

But I've been writing back and for to a young fellow the last few days who has one of the most heart wrenching stories of any we have ever published. With that said, here is his story, in its entirety.

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Greg is not the only one looking for this particular elephant. Try as I might, I haven't been able to locate one, or even a picture of one. He posted this heart wrenching story as a comment on a previous search request here on Plush Memories, but I just couldn't leave such a story buried in the comments!

This must have been some Elephant! My wonderful girlfriend, and soul mate, told me stories about her Elephant (which is identical to the one you're looking for) She got hers from her father as she was torn from him arms in Saudi Arabia (she's American) Her and her mother spent some time in Saudi custody before the American Embassy stepped in and had them sent back to America. The trauma was too much for her mother and my girlfriend was eventually put into an orphanage where she was separated from the only thing she had left to remember her family (her elephant). She got a letter when she was 15 telling her that her father in Saudi desperately wanted to come to her, but was killed in the process.

She cries when she talks about it, and she's pretty much come to terms with the fact that she'll never see him or her elephant again. If I can find an elephant like this one, my plan is to tie an engagement ring on a ribbon around it's neck and give it to her. It's very symbolic of "family" to her and I think would be the perfect way to tell her I want to spend forever with her and start a family with her. If anyone can help me locate this elephant it could help a beautiful young girl get some closure to a horrible childhood, and could help me give her a feeling of security for the future! Please help!

The elephant was yellow, had pink inside the ears, sang "You Are My Sunshine," and the head softly moved while it was playing. I believe it was made by Eden. Thank you so very much!

If you can help Greg find this oh so special musical elephant, please Contact Us, including #081607-1 in the subject, or Comment Here.

Searching for a toy - Originally posted 08/16/2007

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He wrote me today to thank me for making the extra post about his search, and that's what got me to thinking about how great a marriage my DH and I have, and how much I would love to help this young fellow pop the question with this Sunshine Elephant!!

Thank you so much Rosemary! Everything about this relationship has been very unexplained, how we came together, etc. We are both from very different backgrounds but I have fallen for her and there isn't anything I wouldn't do for her. :) As they say "there is one girl for every boy" We were lucky enough to find each other. Thanks again Rosemary. Bless your soul.

I've posted lots of sweet stories, but I can't say that I've had another one that touched me so much personally. Please pass this request link along on your blog, and let's see if we can make his dream of proposing to his "perfect girl" come true.

Great Fun on our Date Day Yesterday

We had one of the best Date Days, as far as finding bargains is concerned, that we've had in a long time. We actually found an Estate Sale where the daughter wanted to SELL, not price everything so high that people just looked and left. We had handfuls of things, and ended up paying for one batch and taking it to the car, and then coming back for more!! We were like kids in a candy store, except it was future $$$$ signs that we were seeing.

We also went to one sale where they advertised that there was a lot of "old stuff." I would hate to be that fellow's neighbors, as his property, front and back, was one huge junk yard. We bought one nasty shaving mug for a dollar, but it will clean up into something I can add to my own collection of shaving and mustache mugs, strops, and razors. That one won't be going up for sale. Luckily, I've chosen to collect something that you don't find much of any more, so I'm not forever adding to it. I have no idea what possessed me to get interested in this particular type of item, but I find them fascinating.

This man's yard really made us both stop and laugh about what someone would think if they saw all the STUFF we've accumulated over the last few years from our forays at the yard and estate sales. Our poor children!! Well, as we've told them over and over, we have long since made our profit out of all of it, so they can just bag it all up and donate it to the local Thrift Store!

As hobbies go, ours is really not so bad, because it at least pays for itself! But it does take a lot of time to inventory it all, take pictures, and write the descriptions for eBay and for selling on our own website. I'm so far behind now that I can't possibly get everything listed, no matter how hard I might try. We kept buying, as an outlet to get away from our care giving responsibilities, even though I didn't have time to list anything, and it went on that way for almost 2 years! Now we have bags and storage boxes just packed to the overflowing with who knows how many stuffed animals destined for our Plush Animal Shoppe and vintage breakables waiting to be listed in our Dirty Butter Estates store.

Hmmmm... maybe I'd better stop blogging and get busy listing, eh??