Goodwill towards men (and women)

We finally had a nice chill week day all spread out before us with nothing to do, my littles and I. And what did we do on such a fine brilliant beautiful morning such as this, but indulge in some oh-so-very entertaining retail therapy at the good ol' BLUE HANGER.
There's a Blue Hanger in my neighborhood and I think I've been going there at least twice a month for about two years. It's basically like an ongoing garage sale... it's the tail end of all the stuff that Goodwill decided wasn't worthy to sell in it's stores. Everything that didn't make the cut is just dumped into these gigantic bins willy-nilly, and everything is beyond dirt cheap. I know I've hauled home scads of junk from there that I never should have bought even for 25 cents, but I've also richly appointed my home with ridey toys galore in the backyard, vintage fisher price, stacks of fantastic books, perfect Ravensburger puzzles not missing one piece, and all sorts of odds and ends that even at another thrift store would cost you a pretty penny. I love the thrill of the hunt and I enjoyed my precious moments at the Blue Hanger so much, even though most people I know, including some pretty hard core thrifters, find it pretty rank and off-putting. It is a really strange place, and at least at the one in my neighborhood, there were flocks of people that would just stay there all day it seemed and wait for them to dump new things in the bins and then just descend on the bins like a bunch of ravenous termites. Or seagulls. Or something like that.
Anyway, my heart was really broken right in two when I learned that the Blue Hanger in my neighborhood was going to be switching to clothes only. Hey dude, I like clothes as much as the next person, but give me the full spectrum of merchandise, please! I haven't even been there since they switched over in December. The pain was just too fresh. I knew there was another one way up north, just too inconceivably far to even think about.
So! Finally I get to this crux of this story. Today I decided to actually make the trek. Thrills! Chills! It only took me 23 minutes! There were parking spaces! There were actually shopping carts! And dudes, IT IS OPEN TIL MIDNIGHT! That's key information for me and I might find myself there some evening when I am on one of my rambles and have run out of the house screaming.
I'm SO happy because one of the things that killed me about my tinkering class, was having to buy old broken remote controls cars for us to take apart for 2, 3, or 4 dollars at another thrift store, when I KNOW that junk ain't worth a nickel to anyone but me, and that at Blue Hanger they'd give me a fair price. Truth be told, I still think they overcharged me. $1.00 for a headless toy robot? COME ON. But I can harvest a motor, LED's, wires, and who knows what else is in there, stuff that would cost me a lot more than a buck at Radio Shack, so I guess it's worth it.
Bruno was a bit of a maniac, too, that was the other downer. He's always been my easygoing little buddy and now he's just contrary as hell. And shrieky. He really likes to get his shriek on. He kept getting attached to truly grotty toys that there was no way I was going to buy. Luckily I was able to lure him out the door with a viking Playmobil set, complete with catapult. Complete with every last piece. THAT I'll spend 25 cents on. PSYCHED!
I love you , Blue Hanger.