Pop Culture League: Gee, Thanks or "Time to Say Goodbye To Toys"

This week's "Pop Culture League" from the COOL & COLLECTED Blog is entitled "GEE, THANKS" and subtitle is "It's the season to be thankful"

When I saw this particular topic I instantly thought of a song because it is how I am feeling about my life at this point and this particular part of my blog.

Shirley Bassey's "This Is My Life"

In this song she sings the line about how she often thinks about how much of a mess she has made of her life, but then she states how she should count the things that she is grateful in this life. I think sometimes we get caught up in the drama of life and forget that we still have so much to be thankful for. I know that I have a lot to be thankful for and these are just a few of those things:

- I am thankful for the fact that I am finding a voice that I felt that I wasn't allowed to have because of my past history. I am grateful that I was given permission to discuss things that happened to me, though I avoid it so often, from my immediate important family. I know that this is healing in many ways. I am glad that I also have that choice not to discuss these things when I do not want to discuss them. It is great that I am finding the means to just allow myself to talk about whatever the hell I want to without worrying about someone will chastise me or hurt me as a result of it. 

- I am thankful for the fact that I have a partner, that while makes me angry at times, that I can tell wants to build a future together. Someone that wants to not be the sum of their past, but be better than that. I can see a bright future if we continue down the road we are going.

- I am thankful for friends, especially my friend Alexis. She has supported me, and vice versa, through some of the darkest moments of my life. I will continue to support her in all that she does (collectorsuniverse.blogspot.com) and she will continue to support me no matter what direction I take,as long as it is perfectly legal ;-) hehe. Friends have kept me alive, especially those on Facebook. There are people on there that I never thought would give a damn about where I was or what I was dealing with, but many have proven that my thought about them was misguided. I appreciate every single one of you deeply. Thank you for being in my life.

- I am thankful for the fact that I have such a deep appreciation for the world of books. I love that they can transport me to another world. Far away from the world that I am currently in. They are magical. 

- I am thankful that I have been able to pursue my education, which I start the next chapter of that leg in January when I start my Masters of Social Work at Indiana University. I know that I am going to do wonderful things and help numerous people have the best future that they can have. I look forward to that so much!

- I am finally thankful for the fact that I had been able to participate in the "Pop Culture League" up to this point. As I said at the beginning of the post it was great that this was the topic for this week because it allows me to say one final thank you to those that came from "Pop Culture League" to my blog. As I announced yesterday this will be my last league challenge. I'm refocused in a positive direction for where I want to go with this blog. I do not want to have a constant feeling of something is wrong, so I am changing in the direction that I need to go. I thank you for being part of the journey thus far. I hope you will continue to visit from time to time even after I am changed from the toy focus to where I feel I should be with books, life, community, and ranting. 

 I will keep looking towards the future and I will keep learning to count the things that I am thankful for because THIS IS MY LIFE!!

You can find me on Goodreads at

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/59000535-cassandra-winters

You can also check out these great postings for this league challenge as well:

Collectors' Universe- collectorsuniverse.blogspot.com - discusses numerous things that she is thankful in her life, including ME!!

Green Plastic Squirt Gun- greenplasticsquirtgun.blogspot.com/ - Love the scary and is thankful for MUMMYS!

The Toy Box- http://thetoybox1138.blogspot.com/ - Is thankful for those that he has shared the league with to date!

20 years before 2000 - http://20yearsb42000.blogspot.com/ - Writes a poem that shows the things that they are thankful for this Thanksgiving, which one is THE GOLDEN GIRLS!! *I love that show*

Mr Smiths Plastic Bubble - http://primordialbadgersmediahoard.blogspot.com/ - Is thankful for BIRDS! No seriously, he owns birds. There is also more so go check it out!

Thank you for coming to the library... I hope you check me out again soon!

Pop Culture League: Red State/Blue State or "I'm Blue baba didi di"

This week's challenge from COOL & COLLECTED's blog is to take a red or blue themed photo. I normally do videos, so this was a bit of a stretch for me! I decided to show off some of the blue items that I have in my collection! 

So obviously I already have a deep appreciation for the color blue if you watch my videos, I mean come on look at some of these stills from a couple of them. If I didn't like it I obviously wouldn't be wearing it! 

I even have ARTWORK in my house that is BLUE! If it was possible (and it was clean hehe) I would show you my living room because it is primarily done in blue hues. The curtains? BLUE The wall decorations? BLUE!! The only thing not blue is the TV and couch!

So first off in the collected items section, At one point I was obsessed with the doll line "Ever After High" and I have all of the original dolls in the series first wave! This challenge reminded me that Madeline Hatter, my favorite from the series, was a very blue character when she was first released! Maybe that is why I was drawn to her.  

The next item in this "BLUE" presentation is one of the characters from "Rose Petal Place", which is LILY FAIR!! While she is not my favorite (Orchid has that pleasure) she is still an awesome character and figure. I have a lot of love for her. I was so glad I bought her on Ebay finally.

In another part of my life I was obsessed with the online gaming community and website of NEOPETS! I have not kept most of the merchandise that I got during that period, but I did keep my favorite blue scorchio and refuse to part with him! 

You may remember from a recent haul video that I got the character "Blueberry Muffin" from the FUNKO! POP "Strawberry Shortcake" collection that was recently released. She is my favorite character in the franchise and I am so glad that I found this in stock at Walmart still!

Still at another part of my life, I was obsessed with "My Little Pony". When they switched from this look to the more modern look I stopped collecting the ponies, but I had to keep this one. I think she is beautiful. 

This is one of the newer lines that I collected. I am only currently missing one of the dolls in the line and I own 8 of the 12 first books in the series based on them. These are the "STAR DARLINGS" by Disney!!! Vega is not my favorite character in the series, but this is only because the series has a CASSIE, so I can't go against a character with my own name for goodness sake. 

To wrap up showing my collection pieces that are blue, I wanted to share the covers to some of my favorite books."The Baby-Sitters Club: Mystery" series alternated covers, but near the beginning of the series all of the covers were in this dark blue color. I am getting more of these in my collection currently to get ready for January, which is when I start "The Baby-Sitters Club" challenge I am doing for myself. This is again that I will read all of the books in the series in 2017 and review them! 

To finish up and show you how much I really do love the color BLUE I wanted to show you the shelf that I took these pictures on. This was a shelf that I got for free off of an ad on craigslist. Originally this shelf was a dull, lifeless, colorless beige. I went to Walmart and bought about $10 worth of spray paint and turned it into this fabulous piece that now houses many books that I own and will soon hold all my "Star Darling" dolls!!

You can also check out these great blogs: (Links will be updated when available to the specific responses for this Pop Culture League Challenge!)

Collectors' Universe- collectorsuniverse.blogspot.com 

Green Plastic Squirt Gun- http://greenplasticsquirtgun.blogspot.com/2016/11/pop-culture-league-challenge-red.html Shows us some old photos from his blog that are Red & Blue!! ONE BEING HEX FROM SKYLANDERS, whom I ADORE! Go check it out!!

Mr. Smith's Plastic Bubble - http://primordialbadgersmediahoard.blogspot.com/2016/11/pop-culture-league-challenge-red.html - Does a great job of explaining some simple truths about the RED Vs. BLUE issue through the usage of some toy pictures. This was a phenomenal posting and I hope you will check it out!

2 Minute Toy Break - https://toy-break.blogspot.com/

The Toy Box - http://thetoybox1138.blogspot.com/2016/11/pop-culture-league-challenge-red-state.html - Discusses their love of the BLUE SMURFS!

Another F***ing Blog - https://anotherfblog.blogspot.com/2016/11/pop-culture-league-red-stateblue-state.html - Shows us their love of red through NUMEROUS figures that they have. I have never seen this much RED in my entire LIFE!! What are you still doing here? GO SEE ALL THAT RED!!

My next post will be on Wednesday and is a Text Article for

"West Coast Avengers"

You can find me on Goodreads at

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/59000535-cassandra-winters

Thank you for coming to the library... I hope you check me out again soon!

Pop Culture League - Cast Your Ballot or "Oh! Thats BERRY DELICIOUS!!"

Pop Culture League: Halloween - Most Wonderful Time of the Year or "Hold the Phone NO CHRISTMAS IS!"

This week's Pop Culture League Challenge from the
Cool and Collected Blog

My next post will be later today and is the second "Halloween Horrors Project" review!!!

You can also check out these great blogs: (Links will be updated when available to the specific responses for this Pop Culture League Challenge!)

Collectors' Universe- collectorsuniverse.blogspot.com - She discussed how it is her favorite time of the year and included some great decoration pictures!!

Green Plastic Squirt Gun- http://greenplasticsquirtgun.blogspot.com/2016/10/pop-culture-league-challenge-here-comes.html Shares some awesome pictures of Halloween items and also tells us what Halloween is to him!

Mr. Smith's Plastic Bubble - http://primordialbadgersmediahoard.blogspot.com/ - Discusses some of their favorite costumes they wore growing up and much more!!

2 Minute Toy Break - https://toy-break.blogspot.com/2016/10/here-comes-halloween.html - Shares a great story of a Halloween where he planned to steal the Mayor's candy!!

The Toy Box - http://thetoybox1138.blogspot.com/2016/10/pop-culture-league-challenge-here-comes.html - "Here Comes Halloween" or His love for "Nightmare Before Christmas"!!!

Music used with permission from Youtube Audio Library. Attribution was not required, but title is "A New Leaf" 

You can find me on Goodreads at

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/59000535-cassandra-winters

Thank you for coming to the library... I hope you check me out again soon!

Pop Culture League: Are You Scared? or "Yes, I just peed myself a little in fear!!!"

This week's Pop Culture League Challenge from the
Cool and Collected Blog

My next post will be on Tuesday and is a VIDEO for

LGBT HISTORY MONTH entitled "KNOW YOUR DAMN HISTORY"!!!

You can also check out these great blogs:

Collectors' Universe- collectorsuniverse.blogspot.com - She discussed some of her real fears like spiders and grasshoppers! Wow, SCARY!!!

Green Plastic Squirt Gun- greenplasticsquirtgun.blogspot.com/ - He discusses his top five fears. Do they make YOU SHIVER? AHHHHH!!

Mr. Smith's Plastic Bubble - http://primordialbadgersmediahoard.blogspot.com/2016/10/pop-culture-league-challenge-are-you.html - He discusses some more reality based fears as well, such as bills!!! Now THOSE terrify the heck out of me!

2 Minute Toy Break - http://toy-break.blogspot.com/2016/10/are-you-scared.html - He discusses his fear of nightmares... Guess Freddy wouldn't be someone he wants to hang out with then?

The Toy Box - http://thetoybox1138.blogspot.com/2016/10/pop-culture-league-challenge-are-you.html - He kept it with the toy theme by discussing the doll that came from this, but he ultimately discusses his fear of "Michael Jackson's THRILLER"! This fear makes sense to me since we all know that there is something evil lurking in the dark.

Music used with permission from freemusicarchive.org. All rights to the original music are 

Chris Zabriskie's and the song title is "Readers! Do You Read?"

You can find me on Goodreads at

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/59000535-cassandra-winters

Thank you for coming to the library... I hope you check me out again soon!

Pop Culture League: The DEAD have Arisen or ZZZZZZOOOOOOOMMMMMBBBBIIIIIIEEEESSSSS!!!!

ZOMBIES- THE DEAD HAVE ARISEN!!!

From Cool and Collected's Blog

This is one of my favorite songs, which just happens to also include this weeks theme in it:

My next post will be on Thursday and is a VIDEO finishing 

"The New To Booktube" Tag!!!

Music in my video used with permission from freemusicarchive.org. All rights to the original music are Chris Zabriskie's and the song title is "Readers! Do You Read?"

All rights to the music in the second video (Cranberries- Zombie) belong to their respective owners and are presented here for entertainment value.

You can find me on Goodreads at

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/59000535-cassandra-winters

You can also check out these great blogs:

Collectors' Universe- collectorsuniverse.blogspot.com 

Green Plastic Squirt Gun- greenplasticsquirtgun.blogspot.com/

These people did this challenge as well (as did both of the above!!!): 

The Toy Box- Discussed 3 Zombie related items, my fave being the WWE, since I recently saw these weird toys on shelves and wondered WHY? WHY DO WE NEED THIS IN OUR LIVES? IS THERE A REASON? Seems like Toy Box agreed

Mr. Smiths Plastic Bubble- discussed some various movies/television shows that include the theme of zombies that I have been meaning to get around to watching, like iZombie. I also loved that he included the line that we would live and adapt and probably put it on youtube! Great sense of humor! Read it here.

AFB- discussed MONSTER HIGH Dolls. It appears they had been MIA for awhile, so they lumped three weeks worth into one weeks and this is what we got!! It was genius to simply include an alien and a zombie on their list to help with it. I loved that it was dolls since as a female I always seem to find blog postings for toys with BOY TOYS. So great to see one post about dolls!! THANK YOU AFB!!! Read their post here.

Thank you for coming to the library... I hope you check me out again soon!