Let's Break It Down!

There's a very peaceful feeling this in the house this morning. Not sure why. Just feels very....calm. I kind of like it because it's going to be a busy-busy, rush-rush day that will include stops at both booth locations. I'm getting back on the bike for the first time since I got sick. I hope that's not a mistake.

I think it might be so calm because Chiquito is still asleep. Hmmm......

Damn! Just remembered I forgot to charge my camera battery last night! Can't take pics for CraigsList without it. Be right back!

Double damn! In the course of finding the charger, I roused Chiquito! So much for calm!

Welcome to my life! It ain't always pretty but it's real.

Anyway, I just wanted to quickly lay 2011 to rest, Eddie-torial style and then get on with 2012.

I didn't hit my 100 posts for 2011 after all. As I kind of feared, my dog-sitting foray, followed immediately by our trip to Arkansas just blew my rhythm all to hell. Still, I got close. And isn't 100 just a number anyway? Maybe I can do that this year. It works out to one blog every three days or so. Surely, even I can manage that!

We had fun in Arkansas. I love Keith's mother to death, and it's always good to see her. It was a total whirlwind trip though and I really wish we'd had one more day.

(Chiquito wants attention. What have I wrought??)

I did get a little bit of thrifting in while I was there. Nothing too special though. I read monkeybox's blog about all of her delicious vintage finds in the little community thrifts of Arkansas and had visions of wonderment dancing in my head and found....well...exactly none of that! I must have been in the wrong corner of Arkansas!

I did find a cute little vendor's mall with some amazing stuff though. It was in an old ice house and the owner was this charming older lady. I only had about a half hour to shop, but I managed to find a few things. She wrote my entire purchase up by hand! I wrapped my stuff and bagged it to help her out. She was amazed when I told her that I get email reports about my sales every night.

Of course, the best finds in life are the unexpected freebies you encounter. Keith's mom surprised me with an old steel ten-gallon milk can that someone had given her. She said that when she saw it, she thought of me and my booths. It's amazingly wonderful and so is she!

Before I got sick, I hit the big flea market at the fairgrounds for New Years. It's kind of a tradition dating back to my college days. Very little in the way of comic books this time, but the special antique wing was really nice. With the economy still so weak, lots of dealers who travel to shows are making incredible offers. It's not uncommon to find tables overflowing with stuff for a buck each or less. It's kind of a digger thing--not real fancy or organized--but I always manage to find some treasures. And at that price, it's easy to resell and make a profit.

The only drawback to the whole deal is the parking cost at the fairgrounds which is an outrageous eight dollars. (!) Kind of undercuts the whole purpose of a "free admission" flea market. We get around this by having Keith drop me off at the gate with my granny cart. I walk in and then text him towards the end of my shopping and he picks me up.

On the way to the flea market, we stopped to get drinks and avoid the food costs at the fairgrounds. I ended up picking up eight rolls of Christmas paper--several of them foil--for a quarter each on clearance. They're all nicely stowed away now for Christmas 2012.

The post-Christmas clearance sales are vital to have a good holiday resale season. I'll have more to say about that tomorrow.