Thoughts From The Attic

Turkey Day Sale At donnydixonsattic.com

2011-11-22T14:57:00.000-05:00

I don't know about you, but Thanksgiving is a relaxing holiday and I am not one to go line up all night for a Black Friday Bonanza.

That's why starting tomorrow 11/23/2011 we will be offering an additional 11% off of our already bargain prices on our entire stock of items (excluding already discounted clearance items) at www.donnydixonsattic.com .

The sale will continue through the end of the day on Cyber Monday 11/28/2011. Don't miss out on these great deals!

Save on Mens, Womens, Juniors, Plus sizes, Maternity clothing sizes as well as accessories!

Sad, Torn, Angry, Conflicted, Shocked, over the firing of a Legend

2011-11-10T00:12:00.000-05:00

I should be sleeping right now, but instead I have a flood of emotions that keep circling in my head. I watched the press conference over an hour ago to see that Joe Paterno was fired by Penn State. Wow, what can I say...... I knew Joe would eventually be done coaching the Nittany Lions, but I always thought he would leave under his own terms or that he would coach until he died. Here's just a little of what I'm feeling right now:

I feel sad for Joe Paterno because at this point it doesn't matter that he spent 60 years doing the right things for Penn State University, all that matters is the poor decision he made or didn't make in 2002.
I think about what Penn State Football will look like from here forward and I get angry at myself. I'm angry with myself because I stop and think about the kids who were victims of sexual abuse and I can't believe that I have the nerve to think about football at a time like this. I have kids of my own and I can't imagine how much hurt this monster of a man (Jerry Sandusky) has caused to those kids and their families. My thoughts and prayers are with them.
I understand that he has not stood trial yet, but I am so angry at Jerry Sandusky for the horrible crimes that he is being accused of. I'm angry that the sins of one man can hurt so many people from those young boys who are now young men, to their families, and now to cause people to loose their jobs like Joe Paterno and many more.
I feel torn because I realize why people thought that he should be fired immediately for not going to the police about alleged sexual abuse, but I also know that Jesus was the only person to walk this earth without sin. Joe is certainly not perfect, but I have heard nothing but good things about him for all of the years that I've been alive. I've heard about all of the educational activities that Joe and his wife Sue have spearheaded at Penn State. I've always seen the clean-cut image that he expects from his players and coaches. So, I'm torn because Jerry Sandusky's alleged crimes are horrible without a doubt, but I have a hard time condemning Joe Paterno's 60 years of dedicated service over one instance of poor judgement.

I'm not saying that I've never wished that Joe would just hang it up and let the next generation of Penn State Football begin, but I certainly didn't picture his departure to look like this. I'm sure Joe feels hurt that he was fired, but to make matters worse that they fired him over the phone. I feel badly that he'll not be able to coach his last home game this Saturday and be carried off of the field one last time and the fans could not show their appreciation for the 60 years of great football entertainment and dedicated service to Penn State University.

Wordless Wednesday: The Not So Itsy Bitsy Spider

2011-09-07T00:00:00.000-04:00

I found this not-so-itsy-bitsy spider outside my front doorway this morning. Do you know what kind of spider this is? If anyone can tell me, I'm definitely interested in finding out.

Link up with other Wordless Wednesday posts at Five Minutes for Mom.

Christmas in July Sale! Save 15% and FREE shipping on Select Items

2011-07-29T08:44:00.001-04:00

Come check out the great deals at our Christmas in July Sale at Donny Dixon's Attic! Save 15% off selected new and preowned clothing with FREE shipping. Here are just a few of the items we have in our sale:

NEW Liz Claiborne Khaki Shorts Size 6 Retail $40 only $15.29

NEW Southpole Polo Shirt Mens Size XL Retail $26 only $13.17

NEW Inkslingers Raw Black Jeans Mens Size 40 Retail $180 only $28.04

NEW Andrew & Co Romper Size L Retail $44 only $16.14

NEW Petite Sophisticate Bermuda Shorts Size 2P Retail $29.50 only $12.74

Don't miss out on these great deals!

Nothing more precious

2011-07-13T22:45:00.000-04:00

Now that I've been a father for the last 6 months I've had many special moments with our baby. I think one of my favorite moments was while I was getting ready to change a diaper. I was gathering my supplies and our little princess was laying on the changing table. When I looked over at her she was staring at me with the biggest smile on her face. I think what was so special was that I didn't ask her to smile or show her my smile. She was just staring at her Daddy and she found her special way to say "I love you Daddy" without saying a single word. What a precious moment with my little girl!

Monster Jam Rocked Baltimore!

2011-07-10T12:20:00.000-04:00

Monster Jam came to M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore last night and my stepson and I had a blast! This picture above shows a perfect way to end the evening with Dennis Anderson flying high in the Grave Digger monster truck. The tickets were well worth the money as they crushed, jumped, and raced for 3 full hours! If you go you'll probably need earplugs as each truck is extremely loud with 1500-2000 horsepower under the hood. If you are looking for a good father/son activity that you'll both love, I suggest going to a Monster Jam event.

Happy Father's Day Dad!

2011-06-19T11:19:00.000-04:00

Do you have a great Dad? I know I do! Here are just a small number of the reasons why:

He has always loved me no matter what.
He is a faithful and loving husband to Mom.
He is a strong Christian father.
He taught me how to play golf when I was 6.
He got me golf lessons and took it like a champ when I started beating him consistently.
He taught me to love Penn State Football!
He took me to a few different Promise Keeper events.
He showed me that it is ok to show your feelings.
He often played basketball with me.
He did everything he could to try to make it to all of my sporting events.
He took me to Myrtle Beach for a golfing trip last year.
He took me to the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida.
He took me to Indycar races in Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio.
He taught me what it means to be a hard worker.
He taught me to drive the pick-up truck when I was only 8 years old.
He taught me to mow grass when I was only 6.
He let me help him build a covered bridge.
He and Mom stood by me through the toughest time of my life when I went through my separation and divorce.
He prayed for me.
He worked hard and was a wonderful provider for our family.
He was a stern, but loving disciplinarian.
He was a good protector as I always felt safe in our home.
He has great rhythm and probably contributed to my drumming ability.
He can sing well and always encouraged me in my signing performances.
He and Mom supported my band even though they were not really into our style of music.
He would ride bikes with me a lot and we would often ride to the tennis courts and play tennis together.
He is an loving grandfather to our two children.
He is a very patient teacher and I owe most of my fix-it skills to him.
He and Mom are great buyers for us on eBay and they are great cheerleaders for our business.
He is very wise and makes good decisions.
He has taken me to lots of sporting events, but my favorites are definitely all of the Penn State Football games we've been to together.
We still try to play golf together at least once a year.

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

2011-05-08T09:38:00.001-04:00

Whats so special about your mom? My Mom is super special to me! Here's a list of reasons why:

She has never stopped loving me no matter what.
She makes the best meatloaf.
She took care of me whenever I was sick.
She drove me to the library for story hour.
She took me to the movies (of course she fell asleep every time, but now I see why because I do the same thing.
She showed me how important it was to love and honor God.
She is the world's best gardener.
She was known as the "skull lady" because she would bring her vast skull collection to display at my schools.
She never missed a performance when I was in band or choir.
She ran the mom taxi and did it safely for many years.
She took good care of all of our animals on the farm.
She often took us to the Ohio State Fair.
She has always loved dad and they have been a good marriage example for many years.
She helped me with my homework.
She encouraged me to try to be the best that I could be.
She is one of our best cheerleaders for the www.donnydixonsattic.com webstore.
She does a great job as a buyer for our business.
She was patient with Dad and me whenever we were glued to the tv for Penn State Football or if we were away for hours playing golf.
She threw great birthday parties for me.
She still loved me through my terrible teen years.
She lead our children's choir "The Church Mice" and encouraged us to sing.
She gives great hugs.
She's a wonderful grandmother for our two kids.
She gave us some good laughs with her many episodes of talking in her sleep. Of course one time was not about laughing when she scared me. I was very young and I was trying to go get in bed with mom and dad and when mom heard me coming down the hall into their room she said "Donny, don't fall in the hole!" She said it many times and I was freaked out. Finally my Dad told me there was no hole and to come get in bed.
She was a loving disciplinarian.
She made special food for me without onions and other veggies.
She put up with my drumming noise.
She me to use coupons.
She always bought me nice clothes.
She bought me lots of ball cards.

My mom is the best mom in the whole world! Happy Mother's Day Mom!

Spring into savings!

2011-04-02T16:21:00.005-04:00

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Welcome to the Ultimate Blog Party 2011 #UBP11

2011-04-01T08:15:00.000-04:00

If you are visiting from the Ultimate Blog Party, welcome! Thanks for stopping by!

I am a step-dad to one son and daddy to a baby girl. I love spending time with my family! I am also a big Penn State football fan, a golfer, an entrepreneur, former drummer in a band, and a jack-of-all trades.

I co-own an eBay store with my wife (You may know her from her blog The Attic Girl) called Donny Dixon's Attic. We sell new

and gently used name brand clothing, shoes, accessories, and other unique items.

Did you know that we donated a prize for this year's Ultimate Blog Party?

Drop by 5 Minutes for Mom's prize page and you can enter to win a $25 gift certificate!

You can also find me on Twitter and Facebook.

Feel free to leave your blog link below so we can network. Have fun blog hopping!

Spring Fever: New Items at Donny Dixon's Attic

2011-03-04T15:21:00.000-05:00

Spring has sprung at Donny Dixon's Attic! Come check out the new items in our store. We have new dresses, skirts, capris, shorts and more in Juniors, Misses, Plus and Petite sizes.

Looking for prom or special occasion dresses? We have added several from name brands like J Crew and Marc Jacobs!

And most of our items have FREE US shipping!

Here is a preview of the latest additions:

New items are added daily. Stop by the store and sign up for our newsletter to get the latest deals.

You can also find us:

Facebook page

Twitter

Just Watched "Letters to Juliet"

2010-09-18T21:47:00.000-04:00

My wife and I just finished watching Letters to Juliet on Dish Network on demand. We enjoyed the flick and thought it was a cute love story. We only wished it had given us a little bit more at the end instead of just a kiss and a smile.

One funny note about the movie is that Shelly and I thought that Christopher Egan looks like the love-child of Matt Damon and Ryan Phillippe. We googled it to see if anyone else was saying the same thing and most people were saying that he looks like a cross between Matt Damon and Heath Ledger. We didn't really see the resemblance with Heath, but we certainly saw the cross between Matt and Ryan.

I recommend this movie to anyone looking for a romantic movie to enjoy with their special someone.

My Store Has Been Featured On Market Mommy

2010-09-06T10:10:00.000-04:00

Have you heard about Market Mommy? Dawn Berryman, founder of Market Mommy, has a bachelor’s degree in English, communications and journalism, has worked in the field of marketing and public relations for the past several years, and has been a mom business owner since 2006 when she began selling photo cards and magnets online.

Market Mommy is a great site that supports mom-owned businesses and provides business card designs, custom logo designs, press releases, marketing consultations, copyrighting, and affordable advertising. You can check out their current advertising specials here. They also have a weekly feature on their blog called Mommy Monday.

My store, Donny Dixon's Attic is this week's feature for Mommy Monday! If you'd like to check it out, click on this link:

Mommy Monday Feature

We currently have 150 items in our Clearance Closet on sale for 25% off our already low prices with FREE domestic shipping. You can also find Donny Dixon's Attic on Facebook and Twitter.

Where are they now?

2010-07-28T20:43:00.000-04:00

Two of my favorite Penn State Football players have been Michael Robinson and Daryll Clark. What I find most unfortunate is how both have disappeared in football after college. Michael Robinson was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers as a running back and never to be heard from again. Daryll was not even drafted after 2 very good years of running the Nittany Lion offense. What a shame especially for Daryll as he had a very good athletic build to be an NFL quarterback. They both left their mark on Penn State, but unfortunately I don't think either will get a valid chance in the NFL to show what they can do, especially as quarterbacks.

Meno-what?

2010-07-17T09:53:00.000-04:00

My 11 year old stepson gave me a good laugh today. He was watching one of those morning shows with his mom and the show hosts were doing a report about menopause. I heard our son say to his mom...... "gosh Mom, I hope you don't get a menopause, it doesn't sound good." It doesn't get much better than that, LOL!

Blue White Game and Other Signs of Spring

2010-04-10T08:09:00.000-04:00

The cherry blossoms are out, my allergies are going bonkers, my car is covered in a blanket of green pollen, and the sounds of Penn State Football are in the air. The annual Blue White Scrimmage is only 2 weeks away and I'm excited to see what the Nittany Lions have to offer this year on offense and defense. How will they replace a great QB like Darryl Clark or a leader like Sean Lee, or a hitter like Navarro Bowman? Not sure who will step up, but one thing for sure is that Evan Royster and Stephon Green should have a great year as 2 of college football's best running backs. Hopefully the front line will be more settled in and these 2 stars will finally shine again. I would love to see each of them go over 1000 yards rushing. One last question to answer : Will we see Joe Paterno roaming the sidelines this fall without the "coke bottle glasses" that seem to be his fashion trademark? One thing is for sure, it will be a fun year in Happy Valley! I also look forward to November when the Lions will come to my neck of the woods and play Indiana at Fed Ex Field in Landover, MD. Happy Spring Everyone!

Makeover!!

2010-02-08T10:54:00.001-05:00

A really big Thank You Louise at Adori Graphics!
She did an awesome job making over my blog! I'm glad to have my own unique layout. Off to enjoy the 30 inches of snow.

Penn State Victory Roar!!

2010-01-01T18:56:00.000-05:00

I'm so proud of my Penn State Nittany Lions Football Team! They played hard and beat a very good LSU football team today in the Capital One Bowl. I was so glad that Daryll Clark and the other seniors went out in style. I think Daryll has been given way too much of the blame for our lack of success against highly ranked teams. If anyone is to blame it is the Penn State coaching staff for the way they game plan for those tough games. We should be cruising into those games with a swagger in our step and a knockout punch in our pocket. Instead we tip toe in and play "not to lose" and of course that is usually what happens. We save any trickery or gadget plays until we are down by 3 touchdowns in the 4th quarter and the other team knows that we're too desperate to run it up the gut. Don't get me wrong..... I love JoePa and the gang of great coaches we have, but sometimes I think Joe Paterno downplays our talent too much. When the players hear these humble messages all week heading into a big game they start to believe what they hear and they get intimidated rather than the desired humbleness that Joe is looking for.
Now I must wait another 8 months for Penn State to once again return to the field. I am sad that the season is over, but I'm proud that my team fought a good fight and made a good showing for the Big Ten Conference! Let's hear that Penn State Victory Roar!!!

Shop Donny Dixon's Attic Cyber Monday

2009-11-29T15:24:00.000-05:00

Looking for great styles with free shipping? Come shop at our store. We have a great selection in Juniors, Misses, Plus, Petite, Maternity, and Men's clothing. With over 1800 items to choose from, we are sure to have the ideal gift for your loved one this holiday.

Choose from brand names like:

*Gap
*American Eagle Outfitters
*Tommy Hilfiger
*Talbots
*Liz Claiborne
*Abercrombie & Fitch
*RUE 21
*Coogi
*Venezia
*Petite Sophisticate
....and more!

Stop by Donny Dixon's Attic today.

Wordless Wednesday: Best Seat In The House

2009-10-13T21:23:00.000-04:00

Cutting the cord (well, not really)

2009-10-07T05:27:00.000-04:00

Today we are taking our cable boxes back to our cable tv provider. We downgraded our service to limited basic cable. It is a bittersweet occasion as we will be saving $50.00 per month on our cable bill, but we will also be losing many of the channels that we enjoy watching. Fortunately many of those shows we will miss are available for online viewing. So looking at the cable bill, I wondered how prices in the Baltimore, Maryland area compare to those rates around the nation. We were paying $75.00 for regular cable tv with nothing fancy. The only premium channel we subscribed to was the Big Ten Network. Our high speed internet is also through the same company and once our promotional time period is over in a few months the high speed cable modem will cost us $75.00 per month. What are you paying in your area?

Here's my wish for Cable TV providers (I know it will never happen, but it's nice to dream)........

I think some cable company should come out with a "pay per channel plan." This plan would consist of being a custom cable plan for each subscriber. You would choose each channel you would like to subscribe to and you wouldn't get a bunch of channels you don't even watch. Here's what I would see for our potential pay per channel package here at our house:

ABC
NBC
FOX
CBS
CW
WBS
ESPN
ESPN2
Big Ten Network
Disney
Nickelodeon
Food
TLC
Animal Planet
Lifetime
Lifetime Movie Channel
E!
PBS
FOX News
CNN
Weather Channel
CMT
Gospel Music Channel
Hallmark

So there you have it. Less than 25 channels and I imagine your list would be less than 25 channels that you watch as well. So most of us are paying way too much for way too many channels that we will never watch. Tell me what you think about a pay per channel system. Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

My Favorite Place to Chow Down

2009-10-05T20:44:00.000-04:00

I'm so excited!!! Later this week I am headed to Pennsylvania for lunch. I'm meeting my parents at Infinito's Pizza Buffet in York, PA. This is my favorite place to eat; in fact, for my birthday this year when given a choice of where to eat, I chose the 75 minute drive North to Infinito's. Here's why I love Infinito's.........

Their food ROCKS!!! Their pizza is always fresh and tastes great! They serve many different yummy kinds of pizza as well as pasta and breadsticks. Since I'm the furthest thing from a vegetarian I haven't tried their salad, but my wife and son enjoy their fresh salad bar. Before feeling so full that I must waddle out the door, I must enjoy their dessert pizza and cinnimon rolls.
Aside from having great food, they carry my favorite drink on tap........ Yay Mountain Dew!!! I drink like a camel so it is nice to be able to walk up to the tap and fill my cup with bubbly goodness time and time again.
Since I usually meet my parents at Infinito's I hardly ever pay for my own meal, but if I did it wouldn't kill my budget as their prices are more than resonable. At just $5.49 for all you can eat and only slightly higher with a drink, their prices are perfect for a pizza and pasta lover like me.
Just in case bathrooms make or break a restaurant for you....... Infinitos does a great job of keeping their bathrooms as well as their entire location very clean.

I was not asked or paid to review Infinito's, but I didn't want to be selfish and keep this yummy buffet a secret. I've eaten at other pizza buffet chains that will remain nameless, and the other buffets do not even come close to the quality of food that Infinito's has to offer. Check out their website today at http://www.infinitospizza.com . I hope that they continue to grow their chain and one day open a location near Baltimore, Marland! Check, it out today, you won't regret it.

Wordless Wednesday Daddy's Girl

2009-09-01T20:12:00.000-04:00

Isn't my dog adorable? Oreo loves her Daddy.

For More Wordless Wednesday visit Five Minutes for Mom

Wordless Wednesday Presque Isle Erie, PA

2009-08-25T21:34:00.001-04:00

"Sparkly Goodness" at Presque Isle in Erie, PA

For more Wordless Wednesday fun, visit Five Minutes for Mom.

Wordless Wednesday: Great Advertising Photo!

2009-08-11T21:06:00.000-04:00

See if you can guess which business my friends are advertising.

Old Navy Sale At Donny Dixon's Attic

2009-08-11T20:57:00.000-04:00

Save 10% off our already low prices on Old Navy jeans, skirts, capris & more in Juniors, Misses, Plus, Maternity and Men's sizes at Donny Dixon's Attic this week through Monday August 17th. We offer FREE shipping on all of our clothing items! We also have a 99.9% Feedback rating so you can expect great customer service! Stop by our Attic Today!

Here are a few of our items on sale:

Wordless Wednesday : Soggy Feet

2009-07-28T20:48:00.000-04:00

Camping Trip Foiled by Rain at Locust Lake State Park in Pennsylvania

For more Wordless Wednesdays, visit Five Minutes for Mom.

Briarwood Golf Club in York, PA

2009-07-25T17:50:00.000-04:00

I recently played Briarwood Golf Club in York, PA. My dad and I played as a twosome; we played the West course. When driving past the East course, the first few holes looked very flat with lots of young trees, but as you can see by the picture the East Course is far from flat and undeveloped (from Briarwood's website). The opening holes of the West course look totally different from the East and has a very nice layout through the rolling hills of South-Central Pennsylvania.

The beginning of the West course has much bigger and older trees so the course looks much older. My dad and I are slightly better than bogey-golfers, and when looking at the yardages on the scorecard, we decided to play the back (blue) tees since those were only around 6400 yards. The course was in good shape with well defined fairways and very consistent greens. The course was a bit wet from the early summer rains so we were forced to stay on the cart path for a few holes. I felt the course design is pretty fair to the average to above-average golfer. However, there were a few long drives that I was glad to have the ball slowed by the wet fairways, since I would have rolled into a creek cutting through the middle of the fairway. The course is very pretty with plenty of water holes and many well-placed sand traps. Our time on the course was pretty quiet as the hills acted as a good sound barrier.

The improvements I would like to see on this course would be the addition of a par 5 on the front nine and another one on the back nine. There were a few long par 4's where it would have been easy to add an extra tee in the way back and move all of the tee off areas back one level to make it a par 5. Also, their riding carts were acceptable, but a nice addition would be newer electric models as they are using gas currently. Though I didn't shoot the best round of my life, and it wasn't a PGA tour quality course, I still had a great time. I would enjoy playing this course again and would recommend it to anyone in the Pennsylvania and Maryland area. It was only about an 70 minute drive from the Baltimore metro area. Don't let the recession keep you away either as my Dad and I played on a weekday morning with a cart and paid only $29.00 for me and $25.00 for him (senior citizen discount). A very good deal for some good quality golf!

Wordless Wednesday: Niagara Falls

2009-07-21T20:36:00.000-04:00

Niagara Falls 2 years ago before the 4th of July fireworks; shot from Canadian side looking at the American falls

My wife has made me a fan of the Wordless Wednesday meme, so I decided to link up.

For more Wordless Wednesdays, visit Five Minutes for Mom.

The Attic Girl: Talbots and Christopher & Banks Sale at Donny Dixon's Attic

2009-07-20T19:26:00.000-04:00

The Attic Girl: Talbots and Christopher & Banks Sale at Donny Dixon's Attic

Visit our store http://www.donnydixonsattic.com for this week's sale:

Save 10% off our already low prices on Talbots and Christopher & Banks clothing items. We also offer FREE shipping!

Click on the widget below to see some of our items.

Colorful Resume

2009-07-19T21:20:00.000-04:00

You think you've got a colorful resume? How does your list of jobs match up to mine? Check this out and remember I'm only 30 years old.

Owner of Small Lawn Mowing Business
Golf Course Pro Shop Sales
Janitor at an Athletic Club
Maintenance Worker at an Athletic Club
Christian Rock Musician
Commercial Painter
Landscaper / Lawn Mower for a friend's business
Amway Sales Rep
3rd Shift Produce Department at a Grocery Store
RVP Tester for Eastern Region for a leading US Motor Oil Company
Leaf Raking Business
Car Wash Tech
Lube Shop Tech
Car Wash Manager
Shoe Shine Boy at a prestigious golf course
Delivery of trash bags for a well known charity
Class A CDL truck driver for a pallet company
Class A CDL truck driver for a furniture company
Customer Service Rep for a leading mobile phone carrier
Customer Service Rep for a leading oral fluid diagnostics company
Lead Management Sales Rep for the same oral fluid diagnostics company
IQC tech for the same oral fluid diagnostics company
Warehouse Worker for the same oral fluid diagnostics company
Warehouse Team Leader for the same oral fluid diagnostics company
Owner of an auto detailing company
Owner of a different company offering mobile car washes and auto detailing
Warehouse Manager at a leading plastics distributor
Inside Sales Rep at a leading plastics distributor
Co-Owner and founder of a growing e-Commerce business

Where have all the bidders gone?

2009-07-14T20:52:00.000-04:00

The recession is making its presence known in many shapes and forms. I'm sure that everyone in the USA is being affected by the recession whether directly or indirectly.

As an eBay Powerseller, I've personally seen the the effects on sales this summer. I've never seen anything like this before. I've got 4 times as many items in my store this summer than what I had last summer and yet my store traffic is less than it was last year at this time. The number of bids has been way down as well as buy it now format items. I'm not sure if everyone is traveling because it is summer and the weather has been great for vacations and camping, or if the lack of sales is due to the tightening of everyone's spending because of the recession.

I'd love to hear back from other eBay sellers to hear how you are surviving this summer slump in this nasty recession. I'll peronally invite you all to visit my eBay Store at www.donnydixonsattic.com
and feel free to visit my outlet store that is currently under construction at www.ddaoutlet.mybisi.com . If you are a seller and are leaving a comment, please feel free to leave me a link to your site as I'd love to check out your store! Thanks for stopping by!

The recession won't affect Happy Valley!

2009-06-29T21:23:00.000-04:00

I've recently seen the effects of the recession all around me. Stores that have been around for a long time are closing their doors for good, people are watching their spending, and people are losing their jobs at every turn. It's a scary culture to live in, but I have a strong feeling. My feeling is that Penn State Pride is going to be stronger than ever this fall in Happy Valley. Why you may ask? People need something to be happy about. People need something or some place to get lost in. Penn State isn't the only stadium that will be full this fall, but I talk blue and white because that's who I am and what I know. I saw people still bleed blue and white even when our team struggled to win 4 games in a season. Teams that we had normally pummeled suddenly turned the tables on us. I saw our team fail to have a winning record two years in a row. Yet, even with all of this adversity the stadium still had 97000 people for each home game. That is amazing to me that there are that many other people like me that love Penn State Football! Though most tickets still cost over $50.00 per seat for each game, I'm sure we're going to see numbers near capacity of 108,000 each and every week this fall. Are we going to be good enough to win it all this year? Maybe not, but it won't matter.........because when those blue jerseys emerge from that tunnel and the white helmets begin to bob up and down.......all of reality will melt away for a few hours. So, maybe you're not into Penn State and maybe you're not even into football. What's important in this day and age is to find what does let you escape reality for a little while and just go there. Be there and don't think about the bills you need to pay, or the job you need to find, or the work you need to do on your house, or whatever it is that is dragging you down. We're not getting any healthier by dwelling on the constant bad news around us, so find your escape and go there on a regular basis. For me, it will be in the stands in Happy Valley or at home in front of the tube watching and cheering for the blue and white. WE ARE........PENN STATE!!!

Back to blogging

2009-06-18T20:55:00.000-04:00

Wow, its been so long since my last blog post. Not that I have many followers yet, but for anyone who was watching I'm sorry that I got lost in my busy schedule. I've been staying very busy working with my wonderful wife on our eBay store www.donnydixonsattic.com as well as working full time as a warehouse manager as my day job. The attic has been up and down in recent months. We've grown leaps and bounds since last year at this time and we're now shipping about 3 times as many packages as we were a year ago. One of the things I've been doing to help us grow our business is lettering our cars for advertising. Here's a picture of my car that I lettered last week. Let me know if you've seen it on the streets in the DC / Baltimore metro area. Last but not least I'm working on opening an outlet store that is not part of eBay. You can checkout the outlet store at www.ddaoutlet.mybisi.com .

I hope to be writing again soon. Thanks for viewing my blog!

It's another manic Monday

2009-04-19T22:16:00.000-04:00

Just when I was hoping that this week would be a good week to play catch-up at work, my truck driver called out sick. So, I've got to brave DC traffic with a box truck which is not my cup of tea. I like driving, but DC has too many pedestrians and too many street signs to pay attention to when driving any vehicle, let alone a big truck. I think I'll hide now.

Rainy Day Burnoff

2009-04-11T10:23:00.000-04:00

If your like us and you have a kiddo that has tons of energy, I'm sure you've found it very frustrating when it's pouring out side and your kid's energy is pouring over. Our favorite activity to remedy this is taking him to the roller rink. After skating around for 3 hours he gets pretty tuckered out and he usually falls asleep on the ride home.

We used to go to Chuck E Cheese on days like this, but we've found that the roller rink is much cheaper and usually a little less crowded.

Maybe you have some activities that you like to do to burn off kid energy on yucky rainy days....... care to share? We're always open to new ideas.

Spoiled rotten

2009-04-06T18:47:00.000-04:00

This is my dog Oreo. She is part Bassett Hound and part Beagle. She loves long walks in the park, chasing dad in the yard, playing keep the stick away from dad, cuddling on the couch, sleeping, and playing with her kong toy when it has meaty bones inside.

After all they have personalities.

2009-04-04T22:11:00.000-04:00

Have you ever given your vehicle a name? I have named every single car, truck, and motor home I've ever owned. Here's a list in order from first car to the one I'm soon to own:

Bessy (1986 Chrysler New Yorker)
Betty Lou (1989 Jeep Cherokee)
Thelma Lee (1990 Ford Bronco, and it looked just like O.J.'s)
The Super Tortoise (1977 Vogue Motor Home Class A 32 Ft.)
Vicky Vandura (1995 GMC Vandura Full size conversion van)
Connie (1994 Toyota Corolla)
Molly (Mazda hatchback 2 door something or other)
Holly (Honda Accord)
Nancy (Nissan Sentra)
Sunny (Plymouth Sundance)
Izzy (Izusu Trooper)
Dixie (1988 GMC pick-up)
The Wash Wagon (Ford F-350 Diesel Stakebody pick-up)
Bertha (GMC 1500 pick-up)
Sally (2003 Saturn Ion)
Patty (2000 Chevy Prizm)
Chloey (2006 Saturn Vue, aka The Blue Dragon)
Susan (2005 Pontiac Sunfire which is my car that is waiting in the wings)

I figure why not name each and every one of them because over their lives they all develop a personality.

What's the grossest job you've ever done?

2009-04-02T18:33:00.000-04:00

I know mine was really gross when I was a janitor at an athletic club in Ohio. I was making minimum wage and it certainly wasn't worth it when you considered the gross task that I was asked to do one day.

I was asked to take a screw driver and rag and clean the body hair out of the space between the wooden slats in the sauna. Talk about gross! Hopefully you were not about to eat when you read this post.

Life under the pastor's desk. part 4

2009-03-28T10:42:00.000-04:00

When we weren't on the road in the Super Tortoise on a concert trip, the motor home remained parked in the driveway beside my church's office building. The office building was actually a single level house that the pastor used to live in before it was converted to offices and classrooms. Since I was paying $30.00 for electric the church allowed me to plug my motor home in to their exterior wall so that I wouldn't have to run my generator. For only paying $30.00 a month a got a lot of perks. I was told by the pastor that I could use the bathrooms in the church office to shower, shave, and all other bathroom functions. The pastor also mentioned that I could use the church kitchen whenever I needed to cook something. I kept pretty wierd hours since I was a young bachelor and we often returned home late from concerts so the church staff got used to seeing me stagger into the office half asleep to shower or use the bathroom. The staff got thought it was funny that I would shave my head in the bathroom and come out and ask the youth pastor if I missed any spots.
There were a lot of fun memories of the church office as the youth pastor and I hit it off very well and we liked a lot of the same things like golf, music, and eating. He taught me how to cook different meats, even beef jerky. He and the rest of the office staff thought my food choices were funny. I was a young bachelor and a starving musician and I was trying not to mooch off of Mom and Dad as much as possible so I was very creative with my grocery shopping. I remember when the grocery store ran a special on Kraft mac & cheese for $0.39 per box. I decided to do the right thing and stock up while it was such a bargain. I bought 72 boxes of mac & cheese and I also picked up some packs of white boil-in-bag rice. I usually ate 2 boxes of mac & cheese per day and on occasion I would eat a plain bag of rice with maybe a little butter and salt.
I would say that most memories of living outside of the church office were good, but I could feel some tension building from certain staff members that thought I was not being very responsible with my life and schedule (since I slept til mid-morning).
The Super Tortoise remained parked outside the church office for almost a year. so believe me there are many more stories to come. Stay tuned because we're close to finding out why I call this Life under the pastor's desk.

Netflix Rocks!

2009-03-24T22:03:00.000-04:00

My family loves Netflix! We watch all sorts of movies from new releases to old ones. One of our favorite things to get from Netflix is tv on dvd. We love 24, House, Two and a Half Men, The New Adventures of The Old Christine, King of Queens, 7th Heaven, Cosby Show, Boy Meets World, and many more! We're on the 3 dvd's at a time and unlimited per month. So we pay less than $20.00 per month to have 3 dvd's at home at a time. As soon as we're done with one, we drop it in the mail and within a few days we've got another one to replace it. If you haven't tried it, you really should as it is great affordable entertainment! We love Netflix!

My dream girl

2009-03-23T22:32:00.000-04:00

I have the greatest wife in the whole world. Not only is Shelly beautiful, but she is loving, caring, and fun to be with! Shelly knows that I do my best to help out around the house, but she's so understanding that my time is limited from working 2 full time jobs. She keeps our house so clean and neat while also doing a dynamite job of running our eBay store and advertising the store anywhere and everywhere on the web. I thank God every day for leading me to such a wonderful woman. I love my wife!

Online Groceries?

2009-03-22T21:37:00.000-04:00

I'm amazed at how far our culture has come so quickly with technology. I am now an online grocery shopper. If you're in an area where Peapod by Giant is offered it is certainly worth a try. Their website is www.peapod.com I know for a person like me who has next to no spare time, having someone else do my shopping and driving the groceries to me is a major help. I am also a dedicated coupon cutter and I've found that online grocery shopping helps utilize more of my coupons than I would in a traditional grocery store. I go through coupon by coupon and check on Peapod's website to see if they offer that brand and product. I've found this service to be very affordable and very enjoyable to use. Peapod's service level has been great too as we've only had 1 egg break so far and all of our items have been 100% correct on all of our orders. I'm glad to be part of a technological culture.

This is why its called Happy Valley.

2009-03-22T20:53:00.000-04:00

Do you have a place that you love to go that never gets old and never loses its appeal? I know I do.

I absolutely love going to Beaver Stadium in State College, PA to watch the Penn State Nittany Lion Football Team! Every time I go to a game I get an adrenaline rush as soon as I enter the parking lot. I can feel the electricity building as I walk past all of the tailgaters. Some tailgaters are eating feasts, some are throwing footballs, others are razzing the visiting fans. I feel myself walking with my head held high because I know I'm part of the Blue and White. As I walk past the statue of a living legend (Joe Paterno) I stop and stand for a moment. It is amazing to see all of the plaques on the wall beside his statue showing all of his teams records from his countless years as head coach. As I enter the stadium goosebumps cover my arms, not from being cold, but from the power that this stadium has. It's not a dark power or a spiritual power, but just a power driven by pride, electricity, tradition, and a love of the game.

As I take my seat the marching Blue Band takes the field and the electricity continues to build. The drum major does his 2 traditional front flips and the Nittany Lion Mascot brings the crowd to a frenzy. With only a few minutes left before kick-off the band plays the National Anthem and again the electricity is amazing as I'm almost drawn to tears hearing our Nations song being sung by over 100,000 fans. As the band exits the field the goosebumps return as the white helmets with the blue stripes emerge from the tunnel slowly. The cheerleaders get the players fired up by getting the massive crowd to chant WE ARE ........PENN STATE..........WE ARE.............PENN STATE! The players stand there taking in the atmosphere and the electricity and their adenaline is running high. They start to bounce in excitement and they finally run out of the tunnel and flood the field in blue jerseys. The crowd erupts and it is sure to be an exciting 4 hours from start to finish. Win or lose I know that this will be another 4 hours of my life that I will not forget. WE ARE...........PENN STATE!

Life under the pastor's desk. part 3

2009-03-22T18:31:00.000-04:00

Just when I thought I had found all of the cool features on this motor home I found some red hoses and horns under the hood. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out what it was used for. I went into the cockpit and found an unlabeled button. I pushed it and it made a horrible noise that sounded like I had hit a flock of geese. I found a spot to add a little bit of oil and soon my motor home sounded like the General Lee (Dodge Charger) from The Duke's of Hazzard. This horn was extremely loud and you could hear it echoing through the valley after you blew it.

Needless to say my fellow bandmates loved the musical horn. We once took it to concert that we were playing about an hour from our hometown. We were playing with a couple of groups such as 40 Days Tempted and Zilch (DC Talk's Musicians). We were the opening act, but the guys in my band thought that it was cool that we had the big motor home while the other groups had vans and cars. They decided that they wanted to feel special when we were getting ready to leave. We were signing some autographs and the guys asked me to go get the motor home and pick them up at the front door. As I was rolling up to the crowd, a few of my guys motioned me to blow the air horn. As soon as I did everyone stopped and stared. It was really funny and the guys felt special as they had their moment leaving our fans and leaving in class.

I'm sure if you're reading along, you're probably thinking I should change my posts to life in the Super Tortoise, but trust me this will all head for the pastor's desk very soon.

Life under the pastor's desk. part 2

2009-03-21T05:56:00.000-04:00

Ok, so the "Super Tortoise" got its name for more than one reason....... it would get you there eventually, but lets just say it wasn't the quickest mode of travel. I remember soon after I bought the Tortoise I was driving down the road and the steering wheel started shaking and the motorhome felt like it was going to shake us into a thousand pieces. I took it to be looked at and the mechanic said that since the former owners had put non-radial tires on the front (steering) axle, it would take a few minutes for the tires to warm up when traveling down the highway and until they warmed up the motorhome would shake uncontrollably if you went over 35 miles per hour. This may seem like a pretty bad thing, but I was willing to live with the problem considering the Super Tortoise had all of these other great features:

Brown Shag- The carpet was thick brown shag and I loved it. The dirt didn't show up too quickly, but when it did I got to bring out the next great feature.........

Central Vac- There was a central vacuum built into this thing! It was great, but being a bachelor I obviously didn't choose to use it very much. Not to mention if I ran out of bags for the vac I wasn't even sure if they still sold extra bags for it since this motor home was vintage to say the least and eBay wasn't around yet.

Brown Woven Blinds- Let me just say I have never found a place that I could sleep better than in the Super Tortoise. Why? Was the bed that comfy? Not really, it was more because at any time of day I could drop the brown woven blinds and make this place pitch black for sleeping. This was a very good thing, but at times my deep sleeps in the motorhome were a bad thing as you'll find out in future episodes.

Built-in TV Console- I quickly removed the black-and-white tv that didn't work from this built-in console area and replaced it with a 19 inch color tv and also made room for my Sega Genesis. My bachelor pad was slowly coming together.

A built-in makeup desk - Since this was more of a convesation piece I showed a few people how it worked and then I never lifted it up again. I wasn't the type to wear makeup so I soon got my computer from my parents house and mounted it and my printer to the counter. Not that I had internet access, but I thought I was pretty hot stuff with a computer in my motorhome.

Full kitchen - Ok, so I didn't cook a lot of meals in the motorhome, but it did have a fridge, stove, oven, microwave, and a built-in blender. Surprisingly I never made milk shakes or smoothies with the blender, but again it was a cool conversation piece.

Full Bathroom - It had a throne and a shower with a nice big closet as well. There are some funny stories to come in future episodes that involve this area of the motor home, so don't miss a single episode.

A Roll-Out Awning and Green Carpet - So I rolled out the awning one time and put out the green carpet, but when I found out how much work it took to do so I never did it again, but hey I could still tell people about the cool feature to my rolling bachelor pad right?

And last but not least the 440 - The Super Tortoise was powered by a Dodge 440 engine. I thought that was cool to say, but all I knew was the engine sounded good, but it sure was slow. I also soon found out that it was prone to vapor locking, which was not much fun, but I'll tell you more about that later.

And you might still be asking yourself, what in the world does this have to do with a pastor's desk? Come read along next time and we might get that much closer to an answer.

Life under the pastor's desk. part 1

2009-03-20T20:55:00.000-04:00

Welcome to part one of many in a series of true stories of how my life took an interesting turn once I graduated high school and entered the real world.

I had moved from Ohio to Pennsylvania during my junior year of high school in 1995. I was the drummer in a Christian rock band named eden Regained.

After school ended every Friday I drove 4 hours to Ohio to play a gig with the guys. I continued this routine for my junior and senior years of high school. After graduation, I moved back to Ohio to take the band more seriously. After living a few months at the lead singer's house (not pictured above, and actually it was his parents' house). I felt I was starting to wear out my welcome. I didn't see it at the time, but I was eating all of their food, wasting all of their hot water, and not taking any responsibility around the house.

My parents came up with a shocker of an idea and said that since I was putting college on hold to pursue eden Regained as a full-time ministry, I could take my college money that was in my money market account and buy a motor home. That kinda blew my socks off since my parents had preached college, college, college from day one. So, I took my money and bought a 1977 Vogue 32ft motor home. This motor home was soon to be named "The Super Tortoise" because the guys said it was like having our home on our back and we could pick up and move wherever we wanted.

I asked my church pastor if I could park my motor home at the church and live in their driveway. Surprisingly he agreed and told me that I would only have to pay $30.00 per month for electric.

You might be asking yourself why this post is called life under the pastor's desk, but you'll have read my next blog entry to find out why.