Monday Rambles

You know, it's amazing how much faster you can go on a bike when the tires are all aired up and the seat is at the right height.  I've been riding for years with my seat too low because I couldn't deal with not having my feet flat on the ground when I was stopped.  I was also afraid of having to ride way hunched over and hurting my back.  A couple of weeks ago, though, I let myself get talked into raising the seat and it makes such a difference.  And I have less knee pain too.  Plus, all the things I was afraid of turned out to be non-issues.

The agency I teach for screwed up last week and advertised my morning class as a four day class, instead of a five, which meant that I ended up with a free morning on Friday.  It was nice, because it gave me time to do some other things around the house.

It's junk set out week in the neighborhood!  A couple of times a year, residents can set out large objects that are too much for regular trash pick up to handle.  It's a good time to be a junker, as long as you're persistent!  More curb-shopping goes on during these times than one can easily imagine.

You are actually supposed to set out the Friday-Saturday-Sunday before your week.  We had some broken down planters and yard stuff that I really wanted GONE.  And now they are sitting at the curb, waiting for Public Works, the pickers or the scrappers, whoever gets there first.  All the metal stuff has already been grabbed by the scrappers.  There wasn't really that much.  Of the rest, I can't imagine we'll get picked too heavily, but you never know.

It's good to have that job done, because I missed the set out in May.  It's kind of like making an offering at the curb, so the junking gods will treat you kindly.  They've been good to me recently, so I wanted to be good back.

Now, even though you're not supposed to start setting out until 5 p.m. on Friday the weekend before your pick up week, the reality is that people jump the gun all over the place.  Piles have been popping up here and there all week, and I've been digging through them.  It's been mostly real crap.  The early stuff never yields too much.

But, on Friday morning, we did find a nice dresser and a cute end table.  The end table needs some finishing work, but I can sell it as a project-in-the-making.  It's still really sweet and has some great tiles on it.  And free is always good, huh?

The dresser had a paint smear on it that came right off, but was in otherwise great shape and went right to YesterNook.  I'm still nervous about dealing with anything that big, so we'll see what happens.

The coolest part of the whole deal had to be the guy who was hauling stuff out of the house to the curb, who first told us to "take all we wanted."  And then started coming out and offering us stuff.  We got a wireless router tossed into the deal.  Quite a change from my last round of curb picking!

I also found a 1953 copy of Morals and Dogma, a bunch of vintage booklets and pamphlets, plus some fun smalls and a few other books.

No matter how long you do it, there's just no way to get ready for the highs and lows of the junk business.  I'd been having a killer week at both spots--sold a desk on Monday at the Peddlers Mall, a coffee table on Tuesday at YesterNook, plus more large items at PM--when, BLAM!  It hits!  The lull.  The low.  The crash. The burn.  Wednesday brought no sales at YN and only .59 at PM.  Oh the humanity!  And then the rest of the week at PM was killer!  You just never know.  On the one hand,  it makes me totally nuts.  On the other hand, it's one of the things I love about the whole crazy business!

I updated my profile, if you hadn't noticed.  Nothing drastic.  I just adjusted the age thing so I don't have to update every year.  I still have some time to be a "late-forty-something!"  And I finally changed the cats from two to three.  It's been a year now.  Sigh.  (Every time I go back to look for the link to that post, I start crying. I may never get over this one.)

This is the last week for one of the part-time gigs.  I won't have any work from them until probably February.  On the one hand, that's a long period without one of my regular sources of income.  On the other hands, that's also a long period of time to work on some projects that I've got going on.  More word on these later.

How did it get to be so late in November already?  Wasn't it just my birthday, which comes at the beginning of the month?  Sheesh!  I've still got holiday stuff to dig out for both booths, plus outerwear to consign and sell.  And, next week--as in the week that comes right after this one--is Thanksgiving!

I'd better get rolling, so have a video of a big cat yawning in slo-mo.  Seems appropriate for a Monday, no?



Later!