Mick's Surprise Party!

Mick turned 50 on October 23rd. My friend Terri helped plan the whole thing! Mick was stunned. LOL! It was a small group of Mick's closest friends and family. He always wanted to dine in the Pope Room at Buca Di Beppo and he finally got his wish!

Vintage Beast Wars Toys!

Remember Beast Wars? They were figures that transformed from animal to robot and some of the figures even fit together to create super robots! Read all about them HERE. See our great collection of Beast Wars toys HERE. Before you shop, sign up at BIG CRUMBS first to save $$$ On ALL your future eBay Purchases!!!

eBay Top-Rated Sellers!

Mick and Holly are now eBay Top-Rated Sellers!!! This little badge tells buyers that they can trust that we will sell them quality merchandise for a good price, charge fair shipping and send their item out right away! I find myself looking for this little symbol on other sellers auctions. Thanks eBay!

VISIT OUR STORE Go HERE first to save $$$ On ALL your future eBay Purchases!!!

M.A.S.H. Model Kits

Remember the hit 70s TV Show? MASH was one of my favorites! Although the setting was a bit depressing, the characters were brilliant! They all managed to make the show humorous yet poignant. Celebrate one of the greatest TV shows of all time with these Revell model kits!

BID NOW! Go HERE first to save $$$ On ALL your future eBay Purchases!!!

General Hospital's Beauty & The Geek

Holly's favorite TV Show is General Hospital, especially because of character Damian Spinelli aka "The Jackal". He's a geeky comic book loving computer hacker who won the heart of the show's sexy bad girl, Maxie Jones. Today was Spinelli and Maxie's wedding day on the show and it was absolutely brilliant! Everything a soap opera should be! GH had been sucking over the last couple of years, but they hit gold with this unlikely couple. And just to win the hearts of we toy fanatics, Spinelli's girl bought him Superman Christmas ornaments last year! Here he sits stunned as he holds up his Maximista's special gift. She truly understands him.

Spinelli and Maxie may have made it to the altar, but the groom halted the ceremony. In a moment of maturity Spinelli realized that the love of his life was not ready to get married. But the quirky couple are more in love than ever!

RARE Donkey Kong Figure

Remember Donkey Kong??? It was one of the most popular video games of all time! It first became an arcade hit in 1981, where kids dropped in their quarters in order to help Mario (yeah, THAT Mario!) rescue the damsel from the giant gorilla. Over 20 years later and kids of all ages are playing it on their Nintendo at home. To celebrate this beloved game a line of toys was created by Toy Site in 1999 featuring the various characters. We have a VERY RARE Cranky Kong figure up for auction this week!  BID NOW! Go HERE first to save $$$ On ALL your future eBay Purchases!!!

Tim Burton's 9 Film and Promo Cards

We went to see Tim Burton's 9 last night to surprise Genevieve, who had been dying to see it! She loved it, although said it was very loud. Mick and I both enjoyed it. We agreed that the ending should've gone in a different direction, but despite that it's one of the most beautifully animated fims we've ever seen! While we were at Comic Con this year we managed to get those awesome 9 promo cards! We currently have a complete set up for auction! BID NOW! Go HERE first to save $$$ On ALL your future eBay Purchases!!!

Yakky Doodle Came To Town

According to The Cartoon Scrapbook, Hanna-Barbera's cartoon duck Yakky Doodle made his first appearance in 1960 in an episode of Augie Doggie & Doggie Daddy, which led to his own segment on The Yogi Bear Show. He was never quite a huge superstar like Yogi, but he did later appear in Wacky Races and Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics.

We currently have this very rare Warner Bros. Studio Store Yakky Doodle plushie up for auction! BID ON YAKKY! Go HERE first to save $$$ On ALL your future eBay Purchases!!!

Win A Gift Card To Sideshow Collectibles!!!

We will draw one lucky name out of a hat on or around September 30th. To enter the contest simply join our Facebook Group and send us a PM with any suggestions you may have to spruce it up! We want to create a fun and interactive community of toy lovers!

This is a time sensitive contest because the gift card expires at the end of December. You'll have an extra $25.00 to buy some cool collectibles at one of the hottest toy resources around!

Why eBay?

With all the griping and complaining going on it's probably surprising to find some people still sticking it out with the giant auction site. We've been ebayers since the late 1990s and we still love it. Yeah, there have been problems and irritations, but where else can you have a storefront, a ready clientele, free accounting services and a brand name for much less than it would cost to have a physical store??? I still have a complaint about the final value fee structure, but for now I'm content to write the expenses off on my tax return. It is a real business after all.

In the weeks to come I'll throw out my insights about the various eBay pros and cons, for those wanting to buy or sell with them. Stay tuned!

Why Toys?

What is it about toys that makes people just light up from the inside out? Perhaps it calls up a fond remembrance of childhood when things were so much simpler. Or maybe it's the bright cheerful colors, the crazy characters, the silly names? No matter the reason, we sell toys and have been making people happy all over the world! We hope you'll visit our store and see the many different collectibles we have to offer. From Disney to DC and Marvel superheroes to long lost TV shows, we've got the toys you've been searching for!

The once a year blog post!

OMG! I cannot believe it has been over a year since we posted on this blog!!! I think I'm only keeping it open until we change Mick's website. I am not going to update every single page just to change the link to the blog. So let's get an update going...

Mick finally printed his first ever Al B. Mouse book! It's called Al B. Mouse's Abecedarium and it's a wacky ABC book. It's gotten rave reviews from the kids in Gen's class, as well as people at Comic Con. We only printed 200, but we're not heavily promoting it so you might be able to get a copy. Go to: Al B. Mouse's Abecedarium to buy your copy.

Genevieve just started THIRD GRADE!!! She's still loving school. Yaayyy!

Holly is still running the family store, Mick and Holly's Stuff. She is trying various marketing strategies, including starting a blog for toy fans.

We are currently saving up for a trip to Disney World. If you would like to contribute $5 or $10 to make our vacation a reality, you may do so with our blessing...

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog!!!

You MUST go see this NOW!!! Funniest movie EVER!!!

The Once Every Six Months Post! LOL!

I can't believe I did it again!!! I think I just have too much going on and too many other blogs. I'm still trying to figure out which ones are working best for me. So... what's been going on...

Well, the economy is sorta sucking, but we're hanging in there. I keep thinking if I could sell 50,000 t-shirts either via Super Soap Fans or One Smile Can Change The World we would have it made. What sort of shirt would you buy? Maybe some great gimmick that everybody would want to take part in?

We've been doing more consignments on eBay lately! I love consignments! Especially the vintage kind! Check out www.mickholly.com to see what we have left on auction!

Mick will be signing with DC Comics again soon. He took a detour over at Marvel, but got a call from DC right after. Marvel is cool, but Mick is a diehard DC fan through and through! The Joker Dark Night hardcover is finally finished (it only took a year!) and will be out in October. They had hoped to get it out this month for the latest Batman film, but it didn't work out that way. I guess it will be out for the video release.

San Diego Comic Con is this month and Mick is looking forward to chatting with fans. He loves to meet new people! If you go by Artist Alley, please bring him some cool SWAG. He rarely gets to walk around, so it will mean a lot to him! Sodas, bottled water and pizza is also greatly appreciated. LOL.

Gen just finished up a really fun science camp where she learned about amusement park rides, circus feats, 1960 pop art, Egyptology and crime scene investigation! She loved it all! She's also been taking piano lessons and has been loving them as well. We're hoping to win the HGTV Dream Home next year so we can have a real piano in our house.

Holly's latest obsession is Damian Millhouse Spinelli on General Hospital. I am going to create a website for "The Jackal" similar to my Zander and Zoe sites (all found at www.supersoapfans.com). For those of you non-GH fans... Spinelli is yet another totally offbeat soap opera character. He came onto the show in 2006 as a cyber-geek hired by a rival mob boss to create incriminating evidence on a jump drive. Spinelli (aka The Jackal, ace of cyberspace) ended up joining forces with the "good mobsters" and has been a permanent fixture on the show ever since. He has an incredible way of speaking, like he just walked out of a Dungeons & Dragons video game. Currently Spinelli and Maxie are one of the hottest supercouples on daytime TV right now (even though they're just best friends)! They've been dubbed "Beauty & The Geek". The photo below was from a fantasy sequence in which Spinelli imagines himself as a "Sam Spade" type detective and his sultry siren, "the wounded blonde one" as he refers to Maxie.



The hacker and the hitman aka Damian Spinelli and Jason Morgan. The odd couple of GH. "Grasshopper" and his master "Stone Cold". LOL!

Where To Begin?

I had considered closing this Blogger account because I didn't think anybody looked at it. But recently somebody asked why we hadn't updated it and I realized I need to keep it going. I've been playing around with different networking sites to see which one works best, but I'll keep this one going as a general family "What's Happening" type of page. So here's the scoop...

Shortly after my last post here, Mick's dad Pete passed away from a long battle with heart failure. It was a very difficult 2 years. He's in a better place now, but we all miss him a lot. Pete was a friend to everybody. Even if he'd never met you before he was instantly your best friend! His memorial service was a full house with many people I'd never met coming up and telling their best Pete stories. It was a very special day.

We had lots of work done on our house (new linoleum, laminate, vinyl, paint, etc.) which ended up costing twice as much as we expected, which pretty much wiped out our entire savings. The house looks nice, but we've been scraping by ever since. If you could refer friends to our eBay store www.mickholly.com or tell your friends about Mick's original comic book art, that would be a big help.

Mick is no longer on contract at DC Comics, so he's now a free agent and can work anywhere he wants. He hopes to do more animated kids comics, like his recent job on Teen Titans Go! Mick really wants to be involved in more projects that help young kids learn to read. He's currently working on a project starring his very own character, Al B. Mouse!

One of the things we're going to do is have a series of polls that allow readers to add their own captions to different comic strips. I'm just trying to figure out where that will take place. Probably at Mick's message board, once I get that back up and running.

If anybody can offer advice on the best sites for marketing our eBay store that would be very helpful. What has worked best for you?

If you're in Silicon Valley and have any vintage toys you would like to get rid of, let us put them on consignment for you! Check out our store to see what we're selling. We do have a separate eBay account for non-toy items, so we can sell anything collectible for you.

I'm working on a book of soap opera fan stories. If you know somebody who is a soap fan and has a story to tell, please send them over to the Super Soap Fans message board.

I'll try to update more often. (yeah, where have we heard that before?)

Holly's New Website!

It happened again. I fell in love with another soap character. This one also starts with a Z. The character was Zarf (All My Children) who later became Zoe. This transgender woman was the best character to come to daytime TV since... well... Zander (General Hospital). Kudos to Jeffrey Carlson for giving her such heart and making her so believable! Any other actor would've probably fallen flat. The storyline was very entertaining, but also informative. If you've never known anyone who was transgender, this was a total eye opener! This young woman was born a boy and struggled with trying to maintain the lie her entire life, just to please her family and society. But then she met someone who made her realize that hiding was not going to serve her in life. She came out and it was not an easy transition for her. Eventually she began her life as a woman and was happier for it. I hope that everyone who missed this brilliant storyline will visit my website, Zoe's Journey - www.zoesjourney.info. I created a bio and a one hour documentary that features clips, musical montages and captions. The highlights of the story are there. Hopefully I captured the essence of it.

Because Zoe has left the show I've been missing Jeffrey Carlson's acting (he better get the Emmy next year!!!). So I'm heading to Washington, DC next month to see him play HAMLET at the Shakespeare Theatre Company. It's an expensive trip, so I'm begging for donations. Visit my site to see what a $20 donation will get you! But every little bit helps!!! Enjoy the video teaser for Zoe's Journey...

Slacking Off Again!

Yeah, so it's been over 3 months since my last post. Sorry, but it still feels like October to me. The time has flown by! It's true what they say about life speeding up as you get older. Maybe it's the perspective of things. When you're young, time is so much bigger than you. But when you're older time is a fraction of what you are. And I'm babbling. On to the fun stuff...

Mick is still working on Supergirl & The Legion Of Super-Heroes with Barry Kitson. He's been crazy busy inking all those figures on every page!!! But Barry's art looks amazing, so it's worth it.

Genevieve is enjoying kindergarten very much! She especially loves all the friends she's made this year. We had her 6th birthday party with her whole class at The Jungle this year thanks to them sending us a winning certificate for a free party! I hope we win another one next year. That place is expensive!!! In addition to school, Gen is enjoying her piano classes on The Music Bus that comes to her school each week. They make lessons affordable for everybody!

I have been an insane eBayer and achieved Power Seller status as a Christmas gift!!! Too bad I'm not making a powerful profit. That's okay, I use eBay as a way to market the other things in our life like Mick's website and my t-shirt designs. There are a lot of soap opera fans out there! Glad I can make such fun gifts without infringing on anybody's copyrighted material.

Speaking of soap operas, I've given up on Days Of Our Lives. As much as I adore Stephen Nichols and Mary Beth Evans' Steve & Kayla, I just can't handle the writing on that show. It's sooooo boring. And most of the actors are too over the top. Kudos to the actors who play Billie & Nick. Loved that one night stand!!! Sadly, they aren't enough to keep me taping the show.

One show that now has me totally hooked is ALL MY CHILDREN. What an exciting storyline they have going with the serial killer! Just when you think you know whodunnit, they throw in a monkey wrench! Love love LOVE the trans-gender storyline with Zarf/Zoe!!! Bravo to AMC for taking such a big risk!

We want to remodel (well, sorta) our house this summer. I've started a new blog begging for help, input, advice with creating our dream house on little or no money. The link is to the left, HELP OUR HOUSE.

I'll try to write more sooner than later.

Holly =]

Catching Up...

So the biggest adjustment this year has been Gen going to kindergarten. We have to keep track of all the different papers that come home, special weekly assignments, library books to return, volunteer responsibilities, etc. But at least we have a block of hours to work without interruption which is great!!! And Gen loves school, so that's even better!

Holly has become a garage sale maniac (Mick is learning to love them) and having pretty good luck finding treasures to sell. Profit margins are small, but at least it keeps the store interesting. Garage sales really are like treasure hunts, though you have to wade through a lot of crap to find the gold. It takes a special breed to love these events.

Mick has been going to lots of concerts, thanks to his new volunteer job with Slims and The Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. He can go to almost any show he wants for free! You can read his concert reviews on his website (www.mickgray.net).


BIG PROMOTION IN OUR STORE THIS MONTH!!!
Spend $25.00 or more in our store and get a way cool Superman Returns PROMO Daily Planet newspaper!!! A big THANK YOU to Legends Of The Game in Morgan Hill (ph: 408-776-0725) for providing these goodies for you!!! (Any local shops interested in providing small promo items will get free worldwide promotion for your store!)

New items in Holly's One Smile Can Change The World Shop (www.onesmilecan.com). A holiday section has been added, just in time for Halloween.



And there's a new Current Events section featuring SANTA CRUZ The Original Surf City.

Mick Is Selling His 1957 Ford Fordor!!!

Mick is selling the car that made me swoon over him! He was Buddy Holly, I was his buddy Holly and Bessie was our cool car! This classic was restored back in the 80's thanks to Mick's dad Pete Gray (of the famous Gray's Thunderbird Nest). Pete is no longer able to help us maintain our lovely car, so we're going to let her go. Parting is such sweet sorrow and this beauty is a sentimental piece. We're not selling cheap! We started the bidding at eBay Motors at $8000.

The Emmys Were Awesome!!!

I had such a great time and didn't make too big a fool of myself as I walked down the red carpet and had our cameraman film the crowd and me. I spoke to several soap stars, some of which I didn't know, but many I did. I used to watch several different shows. The only time I got nervous was when I thought we'd be late or when I forgot what I was going to ask at one point. Other than that it was a great experience and I hope to do it again next year.

Gen is selling her original refrigerator art to help save up for a Disney World trip. We told her it would probably be a few years before we can go. If you'd like to help, please visit Gen's Gallery for more info.