Way Long Overdue Whatever Day Rambles!

We interrupt your visit to a formerly lively, but recently very dead, blog with an important announcement!  Though he vanished unexpectedly, the long, lost Eddie-tor has at last been found!  He was discovered in the company of a Yeti and a Sasquatch visiting a thrift store in the fabled lost city of Shangri-La!  The trio was burdened with junk purchases made in locales such as Lemuria, Atlantis, and the Savage Land.  When asked for comment, the ersatz blogger had this to say:  "Can't talk now.  Gotta get back to the UFO.  The aliens just saw on Craigslist that Elvis is having a yard sale inside the hollow core of the Earth!" 

When conveyed this information, friends and loved ones began a plan to spread rumors of a rummage sale at the Bat Cave in hopes of luring the wandering soul back home.  More on this story as it develops.     

I am so sorry to all of you to be out of touch for so long without any kind of notice whatsoever.  To say that things have been crazy is an understatement of maximum proportions.  Between closing booths, opening booths, buying large heavy things, filling the van over and over with stuff, wrapping up the school year, and trying to get a handle on my booth, my storage area, and the junk room at the house, I have been pretty wiped out most of the time.

Here's a summary:

LAST WEEK OF APRIL INTO DERBY

Closed my uncle's booth at the Peddlers Mall on April 30.  He's been having some health issues, but is doing lots better.  I'm glad about that, since he is the last member of any direct generation of my mother's family ahead of me.  I'd kind of like to keep him around for a wile.

He's closing up shop for a while to have some time to continue getting better without the continual scramble to find new stuff to sell.  I've been tending his space for the last several months, so I closed it up for him.  He gave me his leftover stock and his booth walls, which I sold to the mall.  He just outright gave them to me, but I split the money from the sale with him.  I also paid him a little for his stock.  Getting him to take the money was a bit of a struggle, but I told him I had made an "executive decision."

Right after that, I had to move out of the store that closed.  I waited until the day after it closed, so I could do my work in peace.  I'm very glad to be out of there.  I saw and heard some things while I was closing up that didn't sit well with me.  The staff were very rude to a friend of mine who came to help his mother close her booth.  Plus, the management was putting a lot of pressure on vendors to move into a new mall where they had gotten jobs.  When I told them I was staying put at the Peddlers Mall, I got strange looks from them.

However, I did get some good stuff from vendors who marked down their stuff in advance of closing, including a marble top side table for five bucks!

Derby Week was good for me sales wise at the Peddlers Mall.  Honestly better than any Derby Week I've ever had before, even on Parade Day (Thursday).  Friday (Oaks) and Saturday (Derby) were dead, of course, but the rest of the week wasn't bad.

I've been working ever since to get the stuff I moved from the closed store worked into my space.  I'm now carrying more rent than I like, due to the space I had to pick up to accommodate everything.  I'm planning to give that up as soon as I don't need it.  Until then, I'll just do the best I can.  I've been rearranging as I've gone along, so it's been a slow process, complicated by a couple of recent large purchases.  (More on that in another post.)

Derby Saturday wasn't much for the yard sales, of course, but I did go to the one I consider to be the "season opener."  I got some fun small things there, so the day wasn't a total bust.  I also dropped in on a couple of comic shops for Free Comic Book Day and ended up with a good sampling of the available books. 

FIRST WEEK OF MAY (POST-DERBY)

Very slow sales, but I did move some large items.  I spent the week trying to get the booth up to snuff.  I moved closer to that goal, but never hit it exactly.  It will always be a work in progress, I guess.  I'm trying to get it rearranged to the point where I can accommodate a sofa or a dining room set, if the opportunity presents itself.

My brother turned 45 on the 8th.  In true family fashion, I haven't mailed his gift yet.  The card ended up in my storage room at the booth somehow and I keep forgetting to get it.  Oh well.  It's kind of a family tradition that we're late with the birthday acknowledgements, so I know he's not too surprised.

His hitting 45 has me pondering my upcoming 50th.  I think I'd like to have some sort of family get-together with his family, my uncle and his wife and a couple of my cousins.  I'm getting tired of only running into folks at funerals.  We'll see if we can get this together.

On Friday, I taught a class on having a successful yard sale.  Seriously.  Sometimes, I love the things I get paid to do!  There were four people registered, but only one showed.  I think that was due to the weather.

The weekend was rainy and cool, so a lot of the sales did not happen.  Bummer.  That includes the comic shop sidewalk sale that I was so looking forward too.  Double bummer.  I've been selling TONS of comics and am almost out of them!  Really.  Keith says he can't imagine that happening to me, but it's true.  Ack!

We did get to a couple of estate sales and a sale in a nice dry garage, so a van full was forthcoming.  I'm planning a catch up finds post this week, so I'll spill the details then.  Let's just say it involved a lot of huffing, puffing and carrying and further complicated the booth situation.

I also visited my uncle and took him his tables and booth check.  He's planning a yard sale and let me shop early.  He let me have first shot at the furniture and I got some cool pieces!  Plus, a ton of smalls.  He said he was tired of pricing the small stuff, so he let me make a pile and an offer. 

I spent Sunday working the never-ending booth.

LAST WEEK

More of the same.  Work.  Booth.  Work.  Booth.  My night sessions ended until July, which gives me a little more time.  Yay to that!

I started a new class on becoming a reseller, which had a good first session.

We hit a killer estate sale on Saturday and ended up going back for half price day on Saturday.  I don't normally do that, but this one was in the neighborhood and they had awesome stuff.  It was one of the best run estate sales I have ever been to:  well-organized, lots of help, good prices, and every single little thing was priced--down to the smallest thing!  Seriously.  I started picking little shit up just to see if it had a price.  And everything did.  That's a lot of work!  And the staff were super-friendly.  I'll definitely be looking for more of their sales.  An Eclectic Collector.  I recommend them highly.

Saturday night, we went to see Lyle Lovett give an awesome show that I will write more about later.

THIS WEEK

 More of the same.  My day time session ends on Thursday.  Tons of work to do at the booth on Monday and Wednesday.  I start house sitting on Thursday for a week.  Tuesday is an off day, due to the primary.  I kind of need it.  Saturday the Peddlers Mall is having a Sidewalk Sale, so I am also gearing up for that.  I'm taking over a couple of tubs of books from the house, my yard sale leftovers, and am pulling a bunch of booth duds, stuff from my uncle, and other items.  I'm planning to do six tables.  I may be mad.  We'll see.

 Thanks for dropping back by.  I'll try to start being more active again.

We interrupt this broadcast with another update.  Should you see our itinerant Eddie-tor, please do not attempt to subdue him yourself.  We are unsure what frame of mind his recent adventures have left him in.  Under any circumstances, do not attempt to help him with his parcels!  You know how junkers are about their purchases, even under ordinary situations.   Place a call to the local Peddlers Mall with his whereabouts.  They can take it from there.  Trained personnel will lay a trail of Wonder Woman comic books and Emmylou Harris CD's to the nearest Mexican restaurant where they will keep him occupied with chips and salsa, Diet Dr Pepper, and re-runs of Days of Our Lives.