Monday Rambles

Presenting:  More unfocusedness for the first of the week!

I've come to realize that, as soon as I place something in the booth, I immediately want it gone.  It's like it's been there too long the second I take my hand off it.  That's a pretty severe form of instant gratification, isn't it? Are all retailers like that, I wonder?  I think it's a combination of knowing how much other stuff I have that I can put in that spot, once what's there now sells and a desire to free up the money I've got tied up in the item.

What I have noticed, though, is that, after a re-stock, for the rest of the week, I tend sell items that have been there for a while, but that I moved around to make room for newe items.  The new stuff usually doesn't start selling until the weekend.

I had an evening of panic last Monday caused by the lack of an email sales report.  One of the things I like about my mall is that I get an email every night detailing what I sold that day.  It's helpful for planning and lets me track sales data every day.  Not having one meant the possibility that I had no sales at all that day, which would be a setback on the monthly trek towards my goals.  I used to be able to afford a zero day every now and then, but with my new expenses, I really don't think I can.  It has been so long since I had a zero day that I was caught totally off guard.  I was literally in a funk for the rest of the night.

Thankfully, I got to the mall on Tuesday for re-stock day and found out that there had been a power outage the night before, which affected the email reports.  I did have sales on Monday.  I got a print out for my records, and the day was saved!

Still, sales were off all last week.  We had an unexpected cold day on Thursday and rain on Wednesday, but even the nice days were off.  I'm a little concerned, but not sure what  I can do about it.

I've started walking again, which is a good thing.  I'm trying to get in a short walk every day, now that the weather is getting nice.  My weight is out of control and pretty much has been ever since Mom got real sick.  I'm heavier than I have ever been.  I'm not in good enough shape to attempt any of the races I used to do, so I'm striking out on my own to try and walk at least 40 pounds off before the winter sets in again at the end of the year.  We'll see.

I've been writing a lot here lately, so expect a lapse into video mode any day now.  I'm feeling a need for a wee break.  I took my camera with me to the booth for re-stock day and took pics of the whole process.  It'll take me a while to pull it all together, and it will probably take about three posts, but you can look forward to a booth photo-documentary in the near future

Totally missed Shrove Tuesday last week.  I hate missing out on pancakes.  Darn!  (Yes, I just wrote about wanting pancakes after complaining about my weight.  Consistency was never my thing.)  Maybe now that we've passed into Lent, some of the Easter stuff at the booth will sell.  For the most part, it's just been sitting.  I probably had it out too early, but last year, I got it out late and had a bunch left over.  I'm trying to avoid that now.

I did another (unplanned) round of cat-sitting last week.  Poor Kosh!  I don't have reliable wifi over there, so sometimes I can't get online.  That's what happened to my posts for Friday and Sunday.  I wasn't totally done with them and planned to finish them while I was gone.  Since I couldn't, I'll just throw them back in rotation for another day.

Yard sales were a big, fat BUST this weekend.  I'm trying not to include too many individual sales in the round just yet.  With gas prices being what they are, I'm trying to steer for the "bang for the buck" sales and that means indoor sales, like church sales.  Nevertheless, there was a sale in our neighborhood (ie close) that sounded good.

It was a total madhouse.  We have pretty tiny front yards in this part of town, and this one was packed with people making piles of items they wanted to buy.  I got a few things, but overall I thought the stuff was a little too quirky for my booth.  Never thought I say that!  She was selling a lot of original artwork, and I just couldn't get my head around how well it would do for me.  The crowd didn't help me in that regard.  It was impossible to get any space to sort through things and make decisions.

After that, we hit a church sale that's usually one of me favorites for the year.  And it was a BUST.  Usually the place is overflowing with stuff all day long, so you don't have to worry about getting there at the beginning to get the good stuff.  This yea, it was a picked over mess by the time we got there.  I could not believe it.

And the day never got any better.  Another church sale stop was worse than the first one.  Even a stop at one of my favorite thrifts turned up nothing.  Honestly, when the most exciting thing you find is an Archie graphic novel, it's time to go home.  So we did.