Thanksgiving & New Years Restoration

This year, Dave & I drove to Tallahassee to spend time with the Wheeler side of the family for Thanksgiving.  We made the trip last year and had tons of fun--Dave & Uncle Jon even went Black Friday shopping at Costco and Uncle Jon bought a new computer since family guests kept trying to get him to upgrade his electronics.  (This year, the computer still sits in its just-opened state and is not upgraded with Uncle Jon's company software.  The entire family was in giggles over it!)  We had a fabulous two days with peppercorned filet mignon and brined turkey, but unfortunately we had to drive back to Niceville since I worked the next day.  We are hoping to visit again soon though!

After all the holidays are over, I think I've found my next to-do project.  It's actually a restoration, which I've never done, but I'd love to bring this album back to life.

It's a stamp album from my grandma's collection.  The book actually has a lot of character in it as is; but the major problem is that prior to Grandma Al purchasing it, the album sustained some severe water damage, leaving pages warped and stamps sticking to each other, backwards, together, and basically everywhere you DON'T want a collected stamp to stick.  Unfortunately the water damage devalues the stamps, but for me it's a sentimental project to restore this beautiful leather-bound book to even a partial glimpse of its previous glory.  I might actually get to see what's on the stamps if I'm careful in their separation!

Food for thought:  What's your favorite thing to collect?  Have you ever purchased a distressed or abused collectible item that you planned to restore?