Thrift and Yard Sale Shopping

[Andybev01]

Oh no, far from it.

The weather has been so hot that one truckload every few days is all any of us can handle.

I've been packing in-between trips so everything is ready when we have recharged.

I'm guessing 3 more trips minimum.

I'm a capitalist American, and I own a lot of stuff.

This is my pots and pans, bowls, measuring cups, etc. bagged up and ready to go.

I won't let anyone handle this, and I'm driving it separately in my car.

[Murfreesboro]

So I guess you're eating out until you get set up in your new place.

[MauEvig]

On the plus side, it might be a good way to get to know the neighborhood by finding out what stores and eateries are available. Exploring a new area can be fun and exciting, if not a bit intimidating.
I don't blame you, Andy for wanting to move your own stuff.
When I shipped some stuff down from New York, one of my boxes got raided. When I tried to use the insurance the post office issued, they needed receipts to replace my belongings. Some of those belongings I'd had for a while and didn't have the receipts, so I wasn't able to get some of that stuff back. I was madder than a hornet.
Grandma often said moving was like having a house fire because you often lost stuff on the way.
Hope you enjoy your new community and that you have good neighbors!

[Andybev01]

I make it a point to eat 'good' fast food while shuttling back and forth.

I despise eating in restaurants in general and frive through food is technically already in a doggie bag.

To my surprise I learned that the cabinet underneath the cooktop has slide-out shelving, so no getting on the floor to hunt for pots and pans.

To give you a sense of scale, the large mixing bowl is 8 quart.

Sadly my service for 12 of Wedgwood China lost a tea cup.

I don't need that many settings but it was from a church rummage sale and was only $60.

I'd say that I have 95% of the kitchen finished.

[MauEvig]

Your kitchen looks nice Andy! I like the set up so far, and the sliding doors.
What happened to the tea cup? Did it break while moving?

I'm not sure how you define "good" Fast Food, but I see your point about "take out" being essentially already in a doggie bag. Funny thing is when we do go to a more upscale restaurant and take things home, it's usually in a box rather than a bag, which makes me wonder where the usage of the term came into being.

Rummage sales are nice too. Personally I have to try not to get caught up in the "it's free!" because I tend to end up with more junk than I need. Needless to say, I'll be making a trip to Good Will soon...to the donation door to drop off a box.

[Murfreesboro]

Andy, you probably already know about Replacements, Limited in NC. They have everything.

I've never seen shelving underneath a stovetop like that. That's nice.

[Andybev01]

Sliding shelves are something you never knew you needed but when you have them you don't want to be without.

Kind of like heated car seats or drive-through liquor stores.

[Murfreesboro]

Lol yes indeed.

[MauEvig]

Seems like there's a lot of modern day things that we get used to and realize we needed before we ever had them.
For years I swore I wouldn't get an iphone. I tried a simple touch screen once, at the time I wasn't entirely impressed with it.
Then pokemon go came out. We got iphones. And now I could never go back to the simple flip phones of yesteryear.
It's amazing how convenient a cell phone is. It makes me wonder how we survived without them. Car breaks down? Call someone up on your phone for help. I still remember having to go to someone's house and use their phone to call for help when my car broke down. Dad got me my first tracfone after that. Of course, with spotty service in some areas around here, that could still be something that can happen. We don't have the best service at the house. We just recently got wifi calling, but still like having the house phone as a back up.
A part of that is attributed to being in the "radio quiet zone." This radio quiet zone consists of a bunch of satellites, which I believe the government tries to use to find extraterrestrial life.
NASA keeps talking about all these planets that could harbor life, only to disappoint us.
Personally...I think the government is hiding aliens from the public eye. I feel like at this point though, people are ready to know if we're alone in the universe or not. What's stopping them?
And no, it wouldn't affect my belief in God or a higher power of some kind any. My dad made a good point once, maybe God has "other children" out there. You never know!
Boy I sure went off on a whole tangent didn't I?
Still, I'm not crazy seeing this current generation being raised on smartphones and tablets. They should be going outside to play.
But I say that having been raised with the Sega Genesis, and poor mom couldn't pry me off that thing to do my homework.

[Murfreesboro]

My husband loves the Ancient Aliens series, so I've seen lots of that. I'm not totally sold on it, though I do think they raise some provocative questions from time to time. Like you, though, whether aliens exist or not has no effect on my religious faith. God is infinitely creative. If we're really the only ones around, it seems an awful waste of space.

[MauEvig]

Yeah it seems that way doesn't it? Why would God, or any kind of creator just make us? What purpose would that serve? Why have such an expansive universe if we're it?

I have mixed feelings about the Ancient Aliens series. On one hand the idea of ancient astronauts sounds fascinating, but on the other hand I feel like it discredits the accomplishments of human beings.

But then there's always the possibility that the "pagan gods" were aliens. Even if that were the case, it still wouldn't discredit God's existence. That's because not only would God be above those gods, but they wouldn't be real gods in the same sense of God being. They'd be powerful, but still not as powerful as the creator.

But I admit there's just a lot we don't know. I believe in God, but I can't prove he exists. But I think based off what I've observed, and how certain aspects of existence require a catalyst, it doesn't seem to make sense for things to simply arise on their own without a little "help."

[Murfreesboro]

One of the things I laugh at most about Ancient Aliens is the way they discredit all human ingenuity. Anytime anybody ever had a creative ot innovative thought, they say it's because the aliens taught them.

When my daughter was in high school, she took an advanced biology course in which she excelled. One day her teacher showed them a video about that science experiment that is said to have created life in the laboratory, "proving" that life could have just spontaneously happened. My daughter was too timid to say it in class, but at home she opined, "Don't the scientists understand that in that experiment, they are themselves the intelligent designers?"

I was thinking about this again last night. The scientific method presupposes that there will be someone who designs the experiment, in such a way that anyone else can replicate it. I have enormous respect for science, but its method makes it impossible to disprove intelligent design. We may never be able to "prove" God with science, but we are never going to disprove God, either. The method itself does not allow that.

[Andybev01]

Murf, your daughter sounds like a force to be reckoned with.

[MauEvig]

One of the things I laugh at most about Ancient Aliens is the way they discredit all human ingenuity. Anytime anybody ever had a creative ot innovative thought, they say it's because the aliens taught them.

When my daughter was in high school, she took an advanced biology course in which she excelled. One day her teacher showed them a video about that science experiment that is said to have created life in the laboratory, "proving" that life could have just spontaneously happened. My daughter was too timid to say it in class, but at home she opined, "Don't the scientists understand that in that experiment, they are themselves the intelligent designers?"

I was thinking about this again last night. The scientific method presupposes that there will be someone who designs the experiment, in such a way that anyone else can replicate it. I have enormous respect for science, but its method makes it impossible to disprove intelligent design. We may never be able to "prove" God with science, but we are never going to disprove God, either. The method itself does not allow that.

On the whole aliens thing, it reminds me of a popular meme someone made about that crazy haired guy on Ancient Aliens. I forget his name, but the meme goes along the lines of..."I'm not SAYING it was aliens...but it was aliens!"

I'm not entirely ruling out aliens, whether in the past, present or in the future when hopefully telescopes, our understanding of space and exploration become more advanced. But I'm also not a fan of discrediting human achievements either. So needless to say I have mixed feelings on it.

On one hand it makes sense that a highly advanced alien species from a higher civilization type (we're not even a type I yet as I understand) could have come to Earth and influenced certain pagan religions. Creatures of mythology? Maybe that was a type of genetic manipulation and engineering. I find mythology fascinating myself and the idea of genetic modification to create these fantastical creatures as a way of bringing the mythos to life.

But who's to say human engineering wasn't incredibly innovative during the days of Egypt with the pyramids or even the ziggurats used by the Sumerians?

There's always the possibility that even if aliens visited our planet in ancient times, it doesn't discredit human achievements. Perhaps aliens laid some groundwork and allowed humans to figure out the rest on our own. It's hard to say. Maybe we were assessed. Maybe humans interpreted their visits as gods and their great spaceships as legendary creatures like dragons? Maybe aliens are now waiting for us to ascend to their level and see how long it takes before we get there.

Truthfully, there's a lot more we don't know than what we know. I'm not going to pretend to know all the answers. But I have fun speculating!

I agree with Andy, your daughter is indeed a force to be reckoned with!

And it's funny because, I've often come to the same conclusion myself. We as human beings are providing a catalyst so to speak to allow certain conditions to happen. But that's just it, we're controlling for it. A good scientific experiment will be controlled, and as you said can be replicated in controlled conditions. If you can't replicate an experiment, then it wasn't a good experiment. It no more proves God doesn't exist than it proves God does exist. So it's really up to us to come up with our own conclusions on how to interpret the evidence.

It's always baffled me how people act like this idea of a creator or some kind of higher power, such as God and Science have to be mutually exclusive concepts.

But then, there's always the possibility that we ARE the aliens travelling back in time? Perhaps in that timeline we've already ascended to a type VII civilization and are responsible for the creation of our own world?

Perhaps we're all part of this greater existence that exists in more than one place, and more than one lifetime at the same time?

How do we know this is the only universe, that every action ever made by any living creature in existence affects a given timeline that influences other actions in a never ending domino effect? They also call this the butterfly effect.

Or maybe life is just a simulation?

The world may never know...

[Murfreesboro]

I'm very familiar with that meme of Giorgio Tsoukalos. We call him "Tsoukalos of the Beauteous Hair." He is impossible to dislike somehow.

My daughter's mind works like her father's, and I am in awe of both of them from time to time.

All of your speculation is intriguing, Mau. At times I've wondered if our civilization has been exactly at this point, our present point, before, and if it all got wiped out by the Flood. I do think there's validation of the Flood in the archeological record. And I do find some of the questions raised by the Ancient Astronaut theory to be provocative. I think people like Tsoukalos raise very interesting questions about the age of the pyramids, for example, and their intended use. I don't think these things necessarily must be explained by extraterrestrial intervention, though.