Last Tuesday, I stayed up a little later than usual to work on some stuff for the booths and such. This caused no end of consternation for Kosh and Chiquito. Every half an hour or so, they had to come bounding over the top of me, and everything I was doing, to remind me that I was supposed to be in bed. They alternated this with a couple of rounds of fighting to remind me that I still wasn't in bed. We finally managed to come to an agreement, with Kosh lying at my feet while I worked and Chiquito off doing, well, whatever it is that he does. This lasted long enough for me to take care of things and finally get to bed. I think it'll be a while before I try that again. It's not worth the feline hassle.
Cats: The True Harbingers of the Status Quo.
Junking Rule #637: Try to Limit the Number of "Project" Pieces You Have Piled Up Waiting for Your Attention. I've been violating this one of late, which is not a good thing. The more something sits and waits for your attention, the less money it makes for you. I've got to admit that I am pretty pathetic about this, because the scope of my "projects" are so pathetic.
It's not like I have furniture waiting around to get painted or fixed. That would require a level of industry (and mechanical aptitude) that I simply do not and will never possess. No, I work on a much smaller scale. Stacks of comics that need to be bagged, that's more my speed. Bags of buttons and sewing stuff to be sorted and bagged (or jarred). A few pieces of dollhouse furniture from an old buy that needed some minor touch ups and repair. (Hey! I do really do furniture. It's just tiny!) A couple of things that have needed a good cleaning before they can be sold. Linens and fabric that needs to be priced. A tin dollhouse that needs to be reassembled. (Screw furniture! I'm building houses now!) Jesuses (Jeses? Jesi?) that need to be put back on crucifixes.
Despite my best intentions, I've got a pile of this stuff. I started working through a lot of it last week, because I'm going to need to move it from the place where it currently sits soon. I'd rather take care of it and move it out to a booth than move it across the room. I made a pretty good dent in a short amount of time, which surprised me. A couple more afternoons and I should be able to wipe it out.
Actually, I guess you could say that my "project pile" is more of a "procratination pile." Or, you could just call it "pathetic."
I had an interesting experience on Wednesday. I went to cash in some change at the grocery and filled up the Coinstar machine! Seriously. It not only stopped taking my coins, but it started spitting some of them back out at me. I hadn't even put in half of what I've got saved up either! I still got over a hundred bucks out of it. I guess I'll have to try again. Maybe I need to go to a couple of different groceries to do this? I wish I had thought to get a picture of the "this machine is full" message on the machine while I was there, but I was so surprised by what happened that it slipped my mind.
My dad got me in the habit of tossing my loose change into a jar or can years ago. We've paid for all of our meals on vacation trips this way in the past. Nowadays, I keep one of the big coffee cans around for this purpose, and that sucker is full to the brim! I forgot to turn in a timesheet a couple of weeks ago, so I didn't get paid last Friday, so the can is now my survival money until next Friday. I have so many short term gigs starting up and ending with the same agency that I have to keep a carefully annotated schedule of when things are due to keep up with the paperwork. Despite all this, one managed to fall through the cracks. Oh well, the next one will be a nice check, at least.
Lord, but last week turned into a booth week! I was at each one practically every day by the time the week was over. That's turned out to be a good thing, since I'm going to be hard-pressed to find a time to drop in this week. I've had some extra work tossed my way that's going to keep me hopping from one end of this town to the other over the course of the week. I just hope that I've got everything well set at the booths.
I really do think they should be okay. I spent two days redoing the YesterNook booth--shifting things, marking a couple down, taking a couple of things out. I did roughly the same for the Peddlers Mall booth, plus I added some furniture. I also finally created my Halloween shelf and start-up Xmas display at the Peddlers Mall. Both of them will grow over the coming weeks. All in all, I think everything is in pretty good shape, unless I have a massive run on stuff. While that would not be unwelcome, I'm not sure when I'll have time to restock before the weekend.
All of which brings me to the blog. It's probably going to be a lighter week again, out of necessity. I've got a couple of posts very near completion, but I'm not sure if I'll have the time to put the polish on them or not. I'll certainly try, but don't be surprised if you don't hear from me until Friday.
Ah, but Friday! On Friday, be sure to come back for a very special announcement!
Finally, I need to make an addendum to my Tips for Yard Sale Holders post, based on my experience this past weekend. Make sure you have bags! Honestly, there's no excuse for not having an adequate supply of bags for your shoppers and their purchases. You can't go the store without acquiring three or four more (unless you use the reusable bags)! If you're saving those bags for re-use or recycle (which you know you should be), then there's a plethora of them in your home, ready for your yard sale.
I was at a church sale where several vendors were set up and not one of them had any bags! Not one. I bought five or six small items and pretty much reached my limit on what I could carry without dropping something. That's a point to remember: People may buy more, if they can easily carry more.
Before I left, I decided to hit the bathroom. One of the reasons church sales are great is that they allow you to combine a potty stop with one of your shopping stops. The sink counter top was covered with water. There's no place to put my stuff so I can pee! If you didn't know, aim is kind of an important factor for guys and requires the use of at least one hand. Arrgh! This all could have been avoided with a simple grocery bag! Bags people! They're more important than you think!
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