2016- Forging Ahead

While most have already posted either bloggerlutions, or plans for the new year. Here at the cat house we are running behind as I was still being hit with working. This was a far cry from the days off I had hoped for to watch bowl games, and hopefully do some blogging.

Much like last year I am going to go the route of giving an overview of things I plan on accomplishing this year. Doing this last year worked quite well except I didn't have the trading goal, or post goals. This led to less trading, and later in the year my posting amount took a serious slide. Trading's big drop was due to the increased focus on doing artelopes. This year I need to get it together, and find a way to balance both trading, and artelope requests. One of the most fun things about blogging is the trading, and interaction with fellow bloggers, and readers who enjoy your work.

Originally I was planning on doing this post by breaking things down much like last year. Back then I laid out a road map each hobby was going in. This year I am going to mix it up, and do it by the blog.

--The Prowling Cat--

Being the main blog, and the one I enjoy doing posts at. That will continue only with some minor, and major tweaks that have already started. The major thing will be a huge change in the things, and way I write.

Since day one I had spent most of the posts sharing things that were bought at thrift stores, or swap meets for the hobby room. While it's fun to share the treasures I've found in these journey's. The problem is starting to arise that the room is really coming together. What that means is the amount of times I find anything has taken a dramatic dive. Yes, I have lots of work still to go on the room, but purchases for the room is at a crawl. I do have a post, or two for sharing, but not like it has been in the past. Another is I need to do a little more trading, and get a better mixture between the two worlds.

One direction that is a possibility will be sharing the room once it is completed. Hopefully by summertime that will be a reality. Who knows though as not long ago I started to change the plans I had for the room. Those plans included a change in the cabinets, and more room for pictures.

Another of the huge changes will be coming in the collection. I have some big plans in my head that will once again freshen up my enjoyment of baseball cards. As crazy as it sounds the best thing about having three hobbies is when a hobby starts to fade I have another to focus on. In my mind that keeps me from getting bored. Honestly I think I have some form of hyperactivity that has never been diagnosed. Business cards has been my favorite for many years now, but baseball cards, and schedules keep rotating.

So, my idea is this. I am going to go through the few binders that my baseball cards currently sit in. Do some reorganizing of how things are set up. Add in some sets that are currently just boxed up, and not in binders. I'm just starting to feel that what fun are these sets if they are sitting in a box, and not where I can enjoy them. Seeing the pictures of other bloggers, and their binders full of cards has inspired me to do the same. Luckily I still have the unopened box of 100 nine pocket pages bought over a year ago. Odds are the thing that I won't have enough of is the binders. Those are always plentiful at the local Goodwill so not a problem there. The problem will be figuring out what color binders I want to find. If you've followed long enough you know that I like to color code my binders by what is in them.

The wantlists will be getting some changes too. Lingering out there are a couple cards that I picked up in the past at a card show. Those cards are for sets, or subsets that I've wanted to try, and complete. I plan on sitting down, and bindering these before making a wantlist.  I know this will include atleast three new sets, and it might even be more.

 Even bigger will be a huge undertaking that will be making an appearance on the site eventually. As a kid I collected the Fleer Team Action Football cards. Almost all the cards are gone except a select few that might make one set. The stickers I know are long gone, and I'd be lucky to find maybe one or two laying around in a box. Most people like to collect  50's, 60's, or 70's baseball sets because of the nostalgia. To me these football cards, and the original Star Wars cards do that. I will be thrilled to death any time I can even find one of these cards as I know they aren't the most popular cards ever made. That seems to be the story of my collecting life though. I'm always trying to build the stuff that had very little interest, so adding any cards are quite an adventure.

--The Prowling Cat's Hobbies Madness--

Going into 2015 I had big plans for this secondary blog. Odds are you won't recall, but my plan was to do a post a day. That fell apart real fast, and ended setting a bad trend. After the year was over I had only done 32 posts overall. In 2016 I will do better, and that I can guarantee.

If you are one of the few fans that either enjoy the artelopes project, pocket schedules, or business cards. You will need to visit the blog, and follow, bookmark, or put it on your blog reading list. Right now its only link is on the sidebar here under 'My Blog List'. As a treat you can click on the logo above to go there right now. It's not a blog that I will be promoting the crap out of, but it will get mentions here every so often.

For those that don't know about the artelopes project here is a simple rundown. Not long after starting 'The Prowling Cat' I came across a post about how a certain baseball player would respond faster to letters that had drawings on them. Inspired I thought why not start doing this with the teams I wrote to for pocket schedules, and business cards. The hope was that these would increase the odds of getting a business card from the teams still missing in the collection. By sticking out, or being something memorable to the teams these are sent to. Some have taken a couple different attempts before getting results, but if you asked me I would say it has been working.
         In the posts about these I show the artelope, and give a rundown of what the idea was behind the drawing. Finishing up the post with what the return was. They aren't the longest of posts, but are fun to share. 

Much like the road map for 2015. Hopefully these are all things within reach as I feel they will help enjoy the three hobbies more. The trading will hopefully become easier if I can hit a couple more card shows this year. The longer I blog it seems the more I am able to keep other bloggers interests in mind when visiting either a card show, or card shop. Sometimes I even do better in hitting others wants than my own. No complaints though as the trading has been fun, and is the thing I enjoy most in these hobbies. So, here is to another year of hobby fun in 2016.